


For Services Rendered

by BunnyBean



Series: For Services Rendered [1]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Reality, Comedy, Complete, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Humor, Romance, Romantic Comedy, World Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-10
Updated: 2012-10-11
Packaged: 2017-11-16 00:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 68,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/533661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyBean/pseuds/BunnyBean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend. AR. Sequel posted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sexiest Man Alive

**Author's Note:**

> This is an Alternate Reality where Ryoma and Sakuno never went to Jr. High School together because Ryoma didn't move to Japan in middle school. Ryoma and Sakuno are also older (22 years old) from the beginning, so pay attention to the age changes. At times they may be a little bit OOC, but that's from the differences I've incorporated into the story plot, not so much a deliberate attempt to be OOC or a flagrant disregard on their characterizations. I know it's hard to believe sometimes, but people do grow up...I can't write a realistic fanfic about Ryoma and Sakuno being 22 years old and acting like 12 year olds, yanno? ...smiles...

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

* * *

 

Chapter One

* * *

Name: Echizen Ryoma. Age: 22. Location: New York, NY, USA. Occupation: World famous tennis player. Status: Single.

Very single in fact, and it was now officially a problem. Not that Echizen knew about it. Nope, it was his manager's problem to deal with his public image and reception and thus it fell on his shoulders to figure out how to salvage this. This, being that Echizen was a rich, famous, good-looking young adult and at 22 years old, he'd never been in  _any_  romantic relationship. Not to say that girls didn't throw themselves at him whenever the opportunity arose, nope, the deficiency was completely on Echizen's side as he barely glanced at girls. In fact, Horio Satoshi his loyal manager who had 14 years of tennis experience was at a loss as to why that was. Echizen definitely didn't swing for the other team so to speak; no…in fact it was more like Echizen didn't swing at all in the romance department. Problem? People noticed. Literally. People, that is to say, People magazine noticed, and in their annual feature of Sexiest Man Alive they hadn't just featured Echizen Ryoma as their #1 sexy bachelor. They'd also been oh so kind as to gab up on his love life, or rather utter lack thereof. Problem? It was causing mass hysteria and speculations about the long-standing Prince of Tennis. Problem? It was at the point now that it was escalating into all sorts of ridiculous tabloids. Problem? There was a swarm of paparazzi waiting to pounce on him...and Echizen was going to be pissed about it.

Which was of course…all Horio's fault and  _his_  problem.  _Of_ _course._

How was he supposed to break it to the stoic tennis player that the only way to fix this was to get himself a girlfriend? Echizen acted nonchalant about just about everything non-tennis related, but Horio suspected with his 10 years of dating experience that Echizen had in fact,  _zero_  experience with girls. As in…telling him he had to take on a girlfriend might cause a storm to brew that Horio didn't think he wanted to be around for.

Though…what else were friends/managers for? Right? He could do this. He'd given up life in Japan, his home country where he was born and raised, and a lovely girlfriend of his own that still lived in Japan in order to have the privilege of managing the famous tennis prodigy. Horio had always loved tennis and this was a chance of a lifetime for him: to meet and work with his tennis hero. He needed to believe in Echizen that this could somehow all work out.

He just didn't know how in the world it was going to work.

* * *

Ryuzaki Sakuno rushed through the long back corridor of Ariake Coliseum that was used for VIP, players, management and anybody else to be separated from the massive crowds of the main arena areas. It was a path Sakuno was all too familiar with seeing as how she traversed it at least a few times a week for whatever events were going on. You see…food delivery was a very serious business and since the ramen shop Sakuno worked for was practically next door to Ariake Coliseum, they were called to deliver hot ramen, gyoza and the few other items they offered to some VIP or management on sometimes a daily basis. Which is why Sakuno had a key to the long back corridor and could be found on most days rushing back and forth on it.

Of course, it wasn't what she'd envisioned herself doing at 22 years old when at 18 she'd fallen in love with the art of making ramen and signed on as an apprentice ramen chef. Still, she was slowly but surely learning the art of how to make the most delicious soup dish on earth. That is…in her opinion anyways.

Ariake Coliseum and its surrounding area was also really not at all a bad place to work. Overlooking Tokyo bay, the coliseum boasted of holding 10,000 spectators and fresh sea air. Sakuno enjoyed the fast pace of the food delivery business, the excitement of the events going on at the stadium and the peacefulness of the ocean being so close at hand.

Her best friend forever Osakada Tomoka however was always giving Sakuno a hard time; telling her that she should take advantage of her easy access to rich, famous and powerful people and secure for herself a comfortable living with some rich businessman or sexy athlete. Sakuno was actually a little too distracted by the ramen to care about men or finding a husband. While Tomoka had dated all through their middle school and high school years, Sakuno had kept away from boys and focused on her studies and her family. Even now, she didn't care. She was young and she wanted to learn how to make the kind of ramen that one could laugh or cry over. She would have plenty of time to find a nice, modest man to settle down with and have a family in the future. Tomoka didn't agree with this philosophy at all, and mused to Sakuno on an almost daily basis of the opportunities she was missing out on by not making contacts for herself with the prized people she had access to at the coliseum.

Sakuno shook her head to clear away the small argument the friends had the previous night on that very subject. Feeling one of her carefully done up buns come undone from the left side of her head, she stopped abruptly and with deft hands began to make quick work of putting her long auburn ponytail back into a finely spun bun. It was as she was forced to pause in this activity that her eyes met the interested stare of a young man slowly walking the opposite direction of her in the otherwise empty corridor.

He was average height for a man, with an athletic build, and had greenish black hair sticking out underneath a white baseball cap with a red R on the front. He was wearing plain black shorts; a plain white buttoned down polo shirt and had a black tennis backpack bag over one shoulder. In his right hand he had a red tennis racquet he was spinning around aimlessly, but he paid no mind to his activity, instead focusing both hazel eyes on Sakuno who stood across the deserted hallway from him. He gave her a knowing smirk as she finished her task and blushed from the attention.

Giving a quick bow towards the man who appeared to be around her age Sakuno made to finish her jaunt out of the building only to be stopped once again.

"Oi," the man called out, his voice effortlessly carrying across the walkway and bouncing down the concrete corridor walls.

"Yes?" Sakuno asked.

"Your hair's too long," he taunted.

"My hair's too long?" Sakuno repeated back dumbly. What in the world was he talking about  _her hair was too long for what?_

He gave her an amused smirk as he changed direction and began crossing the hallway over to her. When he was within about a foot distance from her he reached out with his left hand and gave a gentle tug on her right ponytail, which had apparently come undone from its bun as well.

"Oh," Sakuno said as she realized why the man had been watching her with amusement and felt her face heat up with a darkening blush of further embarrassment. She smiled at the man that up-close Sakuno realized was extremely good-looking and began putting her right ponytail back into a bun.

"It fell down while you were fixing the other one," he explained.

"Ah…well, it does that sometimes," she murmured.

"You aren't going to stay to watch the match?" he asked as she completed her task and started in the direction of the exit again.

Sakuno tilted her head to one side for a moment and then took him in once again from top to bottom.

"So, it's tennis today?" she asked.

Taking a step back, the man gave her a strange look and asked suspiciously, "What are you doing here?"

Sakuno held up her keycard. "I'm the ramen delivery girl," she explained.

"Hn," he acknowledged.

Not knowing what else to say, and having finished fixing her hair Sakuno gave the tennis player another smile and said, "Well, um…good luck on your match."

"Mada mada dane," he said with another smirk before he started making his way back down the corridor.

Sakuno watched him for a moment as he resumed his leisurely pace and racquet spinning and then with a shrug at the odd encounter, she made her way out of the coliseum. What did he mean by mada mada dane?

* * *

As was typical of the tennis prince, Echizen Ryoma had owned the court that day. He was tired yet satisfied, but now it was time to go back to his five star hotel, suck down a few cans of ponta, pet his cat and sleep. So  _what_ _the_ _hell_  were all these paparazzi doing swarming about the coliseum exit? As the first flash of light erupted in his general direction Ryoma turned away from the photographer and glared at his manager.

Horio had the gall to throw his hands up in defeat, "This is  _your_ _fault_ , you know!"

Ryoma's look darkened, "Explain."

"Okay, so there is this feature in People mag-"

Ryoma started walking away from the exit in the opposite direction.

"Wait! I thought you wanted to hear about this...besides, that's the only exit from here!" Horio called out as he chased after the tennis champion whom was walking so quickly Horio had to almost run to keep up.

Ryoma stopped again, "That's the only way out?" he asked in disbelief.

"Sorry Echizen, but we have to deal with it tonight there's no way around this," Horio explained.

Ryoma mumbled something under his breath before pivoting yet again and making his way back towards the exit filled with anxious photographers.

"What's our exit strategy?" he asked gruffly.

"Uhm..." Horio fumbled a bit as he frantically wracked his brain for the quickest way to get rid of the photographers. They'd taken the train from the hotel and thus had no car to escape into. Hmm...

"Horio!" Ryoma yelled, sounding a  _bit_ panicky. If his boss had a "panicky." Horio hadn't really seen panicky Echizen yet, but this was maybe on the border of it. Oh boy, he was really in for it now. If there was one thing he knew about Echizen, it was that he did NOT handle the paparazzi or any sort of journalists very well, and things were going to turn into a problem of epic proportions if he didn't come up with something fast. Okay...think, think, this is your home city in your home country you can do this...the coliseum...the coliseum...they were at the coliseum, what was near there? Did he know anybody-OH!

"I have friends that live a block away in a security building, we can outrun them there and escape into their place!" Horio exclaimed in delight. He proceeded to mentally congratulate himself on a job well done.

Ryoma took his queue and stared running right through the flashing bulbs of the photographers. Horio chased right after him and behind the two men most of the photographers followed.

A few minutes later the two ran into the side of a large apartment complex and Horio quickly pushed one of the top buttons on the communication panel.

A ring came through the speakers followed by a soft, "Hello?"

"Ryuzaki!" Horio panted, "I'm in trouble let me in!"

_"HORIO-KUN?"_ came the startled response through the speaker.

"YES! HURRY!" Horio and Ryoma both yelled back as the door buzzed open the two men rushed through and watched as the paparazzi that had been the closest to them slammed into the door trying to get in behind them.

Horio turned and began running up the staircase knowing it was only a matter of time before the paparazzi conned someone into letting them into the building behind them. Ryoma followed. On the second floor, they caught the opened elevator a resident was exiting and pushing the button for the second from the top floor, Horio leaned back against the rear wall of the elevator, and watched as the elevator doors closed behind Ryoma whom had silently followed.

A minute later the elevator dinged and as they stepped out of the lift the men were met in the hallway by a small brunette woman with long wavy hair wearing pink pajamas with kittens printed on them, and pink slippers.

"Horio-kun!" she exclaimed as she rushed forward to meet the men.

"Ryuzaki! Thanks for helping us out! Can we get inside your place? We're being followed," Horio said.

"Of course," Sakuno replied as she spun around and opened one of the only two side by side doors on the floor.

Entering the spacious apartment the two men quickly took off their shoes with a quick "sorry for bothering you" greeting to the dwelling.

Sakuno bustled about the living area picking up a few stray magazines and setting down extra pillows around her kotatsu she was snuggling under when her unexpected houseguests had shown up. She zoomed into the kitchen to put a kettle of water on the stove as Horio sat down and Ryoma followed her into the kitchen.

Horio gave a puzzled look towards Ryoma's back, but gave the odd move no further thought as he laid his head into his arms on the table's surface to catch his breath. Running around Tokyo in January at night was cold and hot at the same time and Horio couldn't decide if he wanted to pull the blanket under the kotatsu over his legs or not.

Turning from the sink with the kettle filled with warm water, Sakuno jumped in fright at the appearance of Horio's friend being in her kitchen.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

"Excuse me," Ryoma said as he backed away a bit giving Sakuno enough room to place the kettle on the stove. She lit the burner to the maximum heat before giving Ryoma a welcoming gaze.

"Can I get you something?" she asked, and then before Ryoma could even open his mouth to respond Sakuno exclaimed, "Oh! Tennis-san! Nice to see you again! How did your match go today? Did you win?"

Ryoma looked taken aback and stared at her blankly for a minute before finally asking, "Do I know you?"

Sakuno's mouth dropped in horror, "You don't remember me? I'm shocked!"

She had found the tennis player to be memorable enough anyway and he couldn't even remember meeting her a few hours ago? The kettle began to whistle, so she turned back to the stove and turned the burner off with a defeated look. She let out a quiet sigh of disappointment and then proceeded to turn with the kettle in hand and pour the hot water into a teapot.

"Do you...have any ponta?"

Sakuno glanced at her houseguest from the corner of her eye at his question. Suddenly, his eyes widened, "Ah! Ramen girl! Your hair's too long."

Irritated, Sakuno slammed the empty kettle back on the stove and glared at her guest, "My name is Ryuzaki Sakuno and my hair is NOT too long!"

Ryoma barely suppressed a chuckle as he gave a slight bow, "Echizen Ryoma."

She frowned at him, but gave a slight bow back in politeness all the same. Why did that name sound familiar?

"It's too long," he added, somehow unable to help himself from taunting her when she gave such cute reactions.

Wait. Cute?  _Cute_?

Sakuno's eyes narrowed in annoyance as she opened her refrigerator and made a sweeping gesture for Ryoma to help himself to its contents.

Ryoma stepped around Sakuno and gaped in astonishment at the neat rows of ponta cans of every flavor on the top shelf. Hmmm...what an interesting girl. Selecting two cans of grape flavor from the front, he handed one to Sakuno, flipped the top open on the other one and took a long swig.

Sakuno begrudgingly opened the can Ryoma had passed to her and took a small sip enjoying the feeling of the bubbles fizzing over her tongue and the sweet grape flavor encompassing every corner of her mouth. She gave a little sigh of pleasure as Horio walked into the kitchen and rolled his eyes upon spotting them.

"I should have KNOWN I would find the two of you sipping ponta in here! I don't know anybody who drinks more ponta than either of you two do," He shook his head and waved his arms in exasperation, "You both DO realize it's the dead of winter, right?"

Sakuno began to giggle at Horio's outburst while Ryoma scoffed.

"Here Horio-kun, I made you some hot tea," Sakuno said placatingly as she poured a cup of tea from the pot and passed it to Horio.

Horio gratefully accepted the hot tea cup and took a tentative sip before turning and heading back into the living room. Ryoma and Sakuno followed behind, Sakuno brining the teapot with her and setting it down on the surface of the kotatsu. They all settled down and tucked their legs under the blanket to trap the warmth from the heater under the table. Sakuno placed her ponta can on the table's surface and gave it a few spins.

"So...not that I mind the company, but why are you guys here?" She asked.

Ryoma huffed in irritation and glared at Horio, "Yes Horio, please explain why exactly we're here."

Horio gave Ryoma a nervous glance before focusing his attention on Sakuno, "Well, you see...uhm...okay, so Ryuzaki?"

"Yes?"

"This is Echizen Ryoma, he's the tennis champion I'm managing...you remember why I left, right?"

Ryoma and Sakuno both nodded, indicating they'd already introduced themselves.

"I remember," Sakuno added with a frown.

"So you know People magazine?"

She nodded again.

"Well, they do this feature every year called Sexiest Man Alive -" Horio stopped as Ryoma cut him off slamming his empty can of ponta on the tabletop.

"Are you telling me that circus was all over some stupid magazine article?"

Horio glanced at Ryoma again, "I tried to tell you about it at the coliseum."

"I've been on that stupid sexiest man list before, but they never chased after me like this. Horio, what's really going on?" Ryoma demanded.

Horio gulped, knowing Echizen was seriously pissed off as he never slammed things around and ranted this way unless he was really angry which usually only involved the paparazzi. He hated giving Echizen bad news.

Holding his hands up defensively Horio explained, "Look, Echizen...they named you number one this year, and on top of that they made a really big deal about your non-existent love life. They commented on how you've never been seen with any girls, they even speculated you could be gay, and then-" Horio stopped again as Ryoma had jumped up from under the table and stomped his way into the kitchen.

Sakuno and Horio gave each other startled looks, neither sure what to say or do at this point.

Ryoma returned to the room with a new can of ponta in hand and resumed his seat. He took a long gulp from his fresh can of soda and then setting it gently down on the table he deadpanned, "I am  _not_  gay."

Sakuno laughed outright while Horio sweatdropped in embarrassment, "Echizen! I  _know_  you aren't gay, but they do have a point. Even  _I've_  never seen you show interest in  _anybody_ , and at your age people will start to talk about that, okay? I've tried to tell you before you need to get yourself a girlfriend."


	2. A Normal Girlfriend

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

Ryoma frowned down at the kotatsu, "I'm too busy for a girlfriend."

Horio sighed in defeat, "Look, I know that too, but I've got an idea."

"You do?" Sakuno asked, finally rejoining the conversation.

Horio folded his arms and gave them each a knowing smirk, "Yup, and it's a fantastic idea. Everybody does it. We'll get you a fake celebrity girlfriend!"

Sakuno's jaw dropped in shock while Ryoma thumped his head against the tabletop.

Horio was surprised at their reactions to his brilliant idea, but figured it just needed some elaboration, "Celebrities like Echizen do this all the time to increase their popularity or improve their image, they make agreements to date other famous people, but they aren't dating for real, it's just for show! It's a win-win for you Echizen!"

Ryoma lifted his head up and gave Horio a death glare, "Celebrity girls are the most annoying."

"Echizen, do you want the paparazzi to go away or not? They aren't going to stop following you around until you aren't a romantic mystery enigma anymore, so you need a girlfriend. A fellow celebrity should be perfect, we can probably find someone in the same situation as you that needs a boyfriend," Horio folded his hands together, "And viola, it's a perfect match."

"No."

Horio huffed in frustration, "Ryuzaki, tell him!"

Sakuno gave Horio a horrified look and pointed her thumb to the side in Ryoma's direction, "I agree with him!"

"Not you too, Ryuzaki! Where's Tomo-chan when I need her to back me up?" Horio whined to nobody in particular.

"Don't you even bring up Tomo-chan to me, Horio-kun,  _it's your fault!"_ Sakuno snapped.

Horio gaped at her in shock, he'd never known Ryuzaki to be so outspoken, "Told you about all that, did she?"

"Of course she did, I'm her best friend!" Sakuno exclaimed.

Horio dropped his head onto the table in defeat.

Sakuno moved her head from side to side taking in the two young men with their heads down on her kotatsu.

Ryoma lifted his head up and flicked the back of Horio's. "If I was going to have a girlfriend, she would be  _normal,"_ Ryoma informed, bringing the conversation back on topic. "She'd also preferably be Japanese and a good cook," he added in a low mumble over the top of his ponta can before taking another quick sip.

Horio snickered into the kotatsu surface while Sakuno let out a nervous giggle, "Is it true you've never dated anybody?" she asked.

Horio lifted his head back up as Ryoma shrugged, "I've been playing tennis since before I can even remember and that's all I've ever done."

Sakuno nodded sagely, "For what it's worth, I've never dated either, I've never seen a point to it since I'm not ready to get married yet."

Ryoma flashed her a rare smile, "Exactly."

Horio glanced from Ryoma to Sakuno and back again at their exchange. Hmmm.

"I have another idea," Horio exclaimed.

"No," Ryoma said.

"We can hire a normal girl to be your fake girlfriend," Horio suggested anyway.

Ryoma leaned his elbow on the table and put his head in his hand with a bored look on his face, but Sakuno's eyebrows lifted in interest, "That might work, I'm sure there are plenty of normal girls that need the money."

Ryoma shook his head, "Even normal girls are annoying," he huffed in frustration.

"Ah, Echizen, you've just been jaded by fangirls, we need to find a girl that doesn't like you and pay her to pretend she does," Horio added.

Ryoma shook his head again and decided not to be offended by Horio's comment about a girl not liking him. He'd much rather find a girl willing to accept everything about him, but normal girls would never accept his lifestyle, right? He looked over at Sakuno and tugged a strand of her long loose hair similarly to how he'd done that afternoon, "You don't bother me, even though your hair is too long. Will you be my girlfriend and protect me from the paparazzi, Sakuno?"

Sakuno, who'd been taking a sip from her now almost room temperature ponta sputtered against the top of the can to keep from spitting her soda across the table at Horio.

"What? _Me?"_

Ryoma shrugged, "I can pay you to put up with the paparazzi, how about one million US dollars for each year?"

Stunned, Sakuno could only manage to repeat, "Each _year?"_ In disbelief.

"Echizen, that's a helluva lot of money," Horio interjected.

Ryoma shrugged again, "Paparazzi."

"That does not explain everything, Echizen! What do you mean 'paparazzi?'" Horio asked in frustration. Sometimes Echizen's lack of explanation really got to him.

"I make millions every year; it's  _worth_ _it_  to me."

He grazed his fingers against Sakuno's shaking hand that was closest to him, which somehow grounded her back on earth, "You'll be my fake girlfriend until one of us decides we want to really start dating."

Feeling like she was floating again, Sakuno blinked at Ryoma and repeated in a scandalized tone, _"Really start dating?"_ Did he mean really start dating  _him_? There was no way that's what he meant, right?

"Yeah," Ryoma said as his eyes gave her a steady penetrating gaze. Somehow, he pulled off looking like he didn't care if she did or not while at the same time giving her a look that was willing her to promise him undying love forever and a day.

Sakuno shook her head to clear it of the overwhelming confusion of emotions and pulled her hand away from Ryoma's light touch, "Are you kidding with me, Ryoma-kun? That is an insane amount of money to  _me_ , and you barely even know me!" With shaky hands she pushed the loose strands of her hair away from her face in an attempt to calm down and gather her thoughts before adding softly, "Besides, I can't be anybody's girlfriend, I'm busy learning the art of making perfect ramen."

"You mean delivering ramen," Ryoma rebutted.

Sakuno shot him a dirty look.

"Ryuzaki, it's enough money to start your own ramen shop if you want, and Echizen doesn't really know any girls. At least you fit his girlfriend profile," Horio persuaded. " _I_  think it could work."

Sakuno looked from Horio's know-it-all grin to Ryoma's teasing smirk and sighed in defeat, "Let me think about it."

The three lapsed into silence for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts.

"So...eh...Ryuzaki, do you know if Tomo-chan is at home?" Horio asked.

Sakuno gave Horio a suspicious look and answered warily, "She should be home."

Horio stood from the warmth of the kotatsu and stretched, enjoying the sensation of the cold air hitting his legs, "I think I'm going to go next door then and say hello." His implication that he was leaving to let them get to know each other better wasn't lost on anyone in the room; thankfully he didn't go so far as to actually vocalize it.

Sakuno jumped to her feet as well, following Horio towards the door of her apartment she worried, "Horio-kun, don't say anything stupid, just seeing you is going to upset her."

"Ryuzaki, she's the love of my life," Horio confessed sadly.

"Well...then act like it," Sakuno reprimanded softly.

"Okay," he said as he left.

As Sakuno rejoined Ryoma at the kotatsu they heard knocking on the other door from the hallway followed by a door opening and promptly being slammed. A moment later Tomoka could be heard yelling followed by lower tones coming from Horio. Ryoma stared at the shared wall in horror while Sakuno tsked and picked up the teapot Horio had been nursing as well as his empty teacup and took them into the kitchen.

As she was rinsing out the teapot Ryoma joined her and leaning his back against the stove behind her he jerked his head in the direction of Tomoka's apartment next door.

Sakuno sighed, "You mean Horio-kun didn't tell you?"

Ryoma just stared at her, which prompted her to assume that meant no.

"Tomo-chan and Horio-kun, well they've been dating since we were freshman in high school, but he left her to work for you," Sakuno explained.

One corner of Ryoma's mouth lowered.

"Would you like another ponta Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno asked trying to change the subject. She didn't want Ryoma-kun to feel the blame for Horio-kun's decision.

"Just Ryoma," he said.

"E-eh?" Sakuno asked.

"Just call me Ryoma," he clarified.

"Oh," Sakuno said, "You really are from the US aren't you? Your Japanese is really good though."

"I was born here in Tokyo," he said, as if that explained everything.

"Okay..."

"I want  _you_  to call me Ryoma," he said again.

At his tone, Sakuno gave him a look, wondering if he really knew the meaning of that or not. When he'd addressed her as Sakuno she'd assumed it was because he lived in the USA and simply wasn't used to using honorifics with non-family members or close friends, but now she wasn't so sure. His eyes were giving her a knowing look like he expected her to read between the lines, as if he expected her to understand that he knew exactly what he was implying. Oh to hell with it, she was going to just come out and say it.

She took a deep breath, "Because...I-I'm...your ah...girlfriend?"

Ryoma smirked, "Okay."

Sakuno couldn't help herself and giggled at his response. Giving Ryoma a wary look she said, "Fine,  _Ryoma_ , have it your way, I'm sure you're used to that." She gave him a flirty grin, "Tell me, how exactly is this going to work?"

Ryoma folded his arms and grimaced in thought for a minute, "I guess I'll need to move back to Tokyo."

"Really?" Sakuno asked.

"You want to move to New York instead?" He asked.

Sakuno shook her head no.

"My family owns a temple here that I can live at, but you'll still need to travel with me a lot," He informed.

"Will all that really be necessary?" She asked.

"The only way this will be worth it is if we can keep interest in my love life down. If you're always with me, they'll say I'm in a committed relationship and leave me alone because we'll be a boring old couple. If we're sometimes together and sometimes not, they'll follow me around and invent problems when you aren't with me," He frowned. "They'll probably follow you around if you're not with me also," He added. "Sakuno, there's a reason I offered you so much money to do this, I want you to understand."

"I think I understand. So then, for traveling with you, do you mean for tournaments like Wimbledon and the US, French and Australian Opens?" Sakuno asked.

Ryoma nodded, "Yeah, tournaments among other stuff, I also need to travel to do photo shoots and commercials and all the other things Horio has me doing all the time. So annoying."

Sakuno reflected on how busy Ryoma sounded for a minute and then let out a big sigh, "I think I'm going to have to quit my apprenticeship at the ramen house."

A long silence followed as the two stood in the kitchen staring across the small space between the stove Ryoma was leaning against and the sink Sakuno had leaned back on.

"I don't want to mess up your life, this is why I've never had a girlfriend before. I might be compensating you for all the hassles, but I know it's still asking for a lot." Suddenly looking very determined, Ryoma stepped closer to her and leaned his right hand against the sink, closing the small distance of the kitchen between them into even less, "Sakuno, I'll make this up to you somehow."

Sakuno looked into his eyes as he tugged a strand of her long hair up between them and rubbed it with his fingers. Wow, he really was the sexiest man alive, wasn't he? She felt like she needed to move away from him, being this close was confusing her senses.

Finally Sakuno said, "I've been learning how to make ramen for the last four years Ryoma..." She paused for a few moments in reflection before adding, "I think maybe in the end, this might be good for me."

He smirked, "Well then, your hair's too long."

She slapped his hand away from her hair playfully, "My hair is awesome! You can't help yourself from touching it,  _that's why_  you complain!"

Ryoma stepped back from her at her playful slap, and turned around to go back to the living room, "Hn," he agreed that she had him on that one.

Sakuno grinned and followed.

 


	3. Promises

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

Ryoma and Sakuno sat back at their places at the kotatsu and Ryoma immediately started curling Sakuno's hair around one of his fingers, seeming unable to resist playing with it and touching it. Sakuno didn't know why, but she really didn't mind, it almost felt familiar, as weird as that was, so she didn't bother trying to stop him, or comment on it.

He  _was_  her boyfriend now after all, even if it was fake and he was paying her for it. Heh...

Still though, the fact that this guy, this practically perfect stranger was able to come into her home, disrupt her life, and somehow invade her personal space without making her feel uncomfortable was a bit of an enigma to her. Somewhere in the back of her mind that wasn't being swept away in the craziness of her evening was telling her this was WEIRD and she SHOULD have weird feelings that she somehow wasn't experiencing.

"We should probably decide what our official statements are going to be, but we kind-of need Horio for that," Ryoma said.

"Ah, well, knowing Horio-kun and Tomo-chan they'll probably be unavailable for the rest of the night," Sakuno offered.

Ryoma smirked at her knowingly, as he twirled her hair around, "It's like that?"

Sakuno nodded, "They were talking about getting married before Horio-kun got the offer to go work for you, maybe-maybe they'll stop fighting since you're going to move here...hmmm." She paused in thought for a moment and then asked, "So where is this temple? Is it close by?"

"I don't know, I don't know this city very well, but we can go there tomorrow," Ryoma offered glancing up from her hair to her eyes.

"I'd love to see it. Do I need to take you somewhere now then?" Sakuno asked.

Ryoma dropped Sakuno's hair abruptly and the strand floated back against her side, "I don't think I can leave. I'm sorry to impose on you. I'm fine here with the kotatsu if you want to go to sleep, I won't keep you."

Sakuno waved her hands in front of her face, "No, no, nothing like that, you're welcome to stay here, I have this huge place thanks to Syusuke-kun, so I have plenty of room if you need to stay, but I didn't want you to feel stuck here, I can drive you somewhere if you need a ride."

Ryoma shook his head, "I can't leave with the paparazzi camping outside your building." He paused to give her kotatsu an irritated look and then asked, "Who's Syusuke-san?"

"Our friend. He's a surgeon and he owns this building. We all went to school with him, he was our senpai," Sakuno explained.

Ryoma gave a nod of understanding before he fell back onto the floor and stretched out his legs under the kotatsu blanket and his arms above his head. He stared at Sakuno's white ceiling for a moment processing Sakuno's living arrangements and wondering at her history with his manager and his manager's girlfriend.

Sakuno laid down as well, but curled on her side around the corner of the table, keeping her eyes on the tennis star. She pulled the blanket under the kotatsu up as high as it would cover her and gave a sigh at the radiated warmth enveloping her from the heater under the table.

"So...tell me about yourself. I don't know anything about you except that you make millions of dollars playing tennis, Horio-kun is your manager, and that I'm your first girlfriend," She giggled nervously at her last comment.

Ryoma let out a snicker before he rolled to his side so he could see Sakuno. He scooted closer to her and propped his head up with his elbow, "You really don't know anything about me?"

Sakuno shrugged, "I know that might sound weird since you're super famous, but I don't really pay attention to any of that stuff."

"You don't like tennis?" Ryoma asked with a frown.

Sakuno shook her head, "I do actually, I even played on the girl's team in school. My Grandma is the coach for the boy's team, which is how Tomo-chan and I met Horio-kun and Syusuke-kun and all of our other friends. I just haven't had time to keep up with any of it since high school."

"All I've ever known is tennis," Ryoma shared seemingly horrified at he idea of a life without 24/7 tennis.

"Really? How did you get started?" Sakuno asked brushing off his shocked look. Her passion was making ramen, not tennis, so whatever.

"For as long as I can remember I've always been playing. All day, everyday. There's someone I still want to beat really badly, so I'll keep playing until I do."

"That's surprising. I didn't recognize you when you talked to me at the coliseum today, but now that I think about it, I've heard of Echizen Ryoma, the so-called 'Prince of Tennis' before." She paused and blushed in embarrassment before adding, "That is, I thought you beat everybody," She said with a little giggle.

Ryoma closed his eyes briefly, "Not  _everybody."_

"Aren't you the world champion?" Sakuno asked.

Ryoma scoffed, "Yes."

"Okay," Sakuno decided not to probe further.

"You'll see what I mean," Ryoma said.

"Sure," Sakuno said.

"What do you do besides deliver ramen?" Ryoma teased.

Sakuno flushed again in embarrassment, as she drew a swirling pattern into the carpet with her finger, "I guess, just making ramen and cooking other things, I don't really have time for much else, I talk to Tomo-chan a lot, and I get together with our friends sometimes."

Ryoma reached his hand out to her and grabbing a fresh lock of hair he began to absentmindedly curl it around his finger, "Being my girlfriend is going to be a big change for you."

Sakuno laughed his serious comment off, wondering if she really did understand what she was getting into, "I suppose it will. By the way you'll have to help me with my English, I studied it all through school, but it was never a strong subject for me."

Ryoma flashed her a knowing smirk, "That's fine."

Sakuno furrowed her brow in thought, "So then...next up is the Australian Open, right?"

"Next week, and we'll be in Australia for a little over two weeks," Ryoma informed her.

"So then, what were you doing here today?" Sakuno asked.

"An exhibition match. Since I'm Japanese I support all the tournaments here. Today was an exhibition to get everybody excited for the Australian Open next week," he explained.

"It's a wonder I haven't met you before today if you're at the coliseum that often," Sakuno wondered aloud.

"Hn," Ryoma agreed.

"Are you hungry, Ryoma? I forgot to ask if you've had dinner yet," Sakuno said as Ryoma's situation finally fully occurred to her. He'd been playing tennis at the coliseum, ran to her place, had a couple of ponta, and was planning on staying the night.

Ryoma shook his head, "I had something at the coliseum before I left. I was planning on going back to my hotel and sleeping. Wait."

Ryoma's hand that had been idly playing with her hair stopped to dig in his pocket to pull out a cell phone, "I need to call the hotel and tell them to feed Karupin."

"Karupin?" Sakuno asked.

Ryoma had already tapped a number onto his touchscreen phone and had it up against his ear, but at her question he looked back at her, "My cat," he explained.

Sakuno kept her eyes locked with Ryoma's and watched his facial expressions as he conversed briefly with the hotel staff to make a visit to his room and feed his cat since he would be out all night. No, that was all, and no he didn't need anything else, yes, thank you it was a good match today, yes, I'm looking forward to the Australian Open, of course I'm going to win, thank you, goodbye.

As Ryoma disconnected the call and put his cell phone back in his pocket, Sakuno asked, "Do people always talk like that to you?"

"It's annoying," Ryoma answered.

"I'm sorry," Sakuno said.

Ryoma scoffed, "You surprised me today at the coliseum when you didn't know who I was, it was...kind of nice."

Sakuno giggled, "I thought you were annoyed with me."

Ryoma shook his head, "You're not annoying."

Sakuno viciously fought down the part inside of her that started glowing in happiness at his backhanded compliment. And yes, she knew Ryoma well enough already to know that being a girl and being labeled "not annoying" was a really big compliment. Still...she really shouldn't let him charm her and get all gooey on him when he was relying on her to pretend to be his girlfriend, and not  _really_  like him like that. Wasn't that what Horio-kun had said? A normal girl that  _didn't_  like him? Oh, but it was kind-of hard with him being so good-looking and interesting to not start liking him. Time to change the subject before this got any more intimate.

"So, why is Horio-kun your manager then?" she asked giving Ryoma a wide-eyed innocent look as if to imply she wasn't implying Horio was annoying.

Caught off guard, he laughed outright at her question, "It is weird! He's Horio, but I trust him. A completely trustworthy manager is worth it."

Sakuno laughed with Ryoma a bit at their shared viewpoint of Horio and said, "I understand you actually!"

"You can't tell anybody you aren't really my girlfriend," Ryoma suddenly blurted through their laughter.

Sakuno stopped laughing. Ryoma had a worried look on his face, and she didn't know why, but it upset her. It touched a part of her in her heart that she didn't even know existed. What was this? Was it because he was worried about her loyalty or because she'd decided somewhere in her subconscious that she really did like him? She didn't know yet, but she had this intense desire to assure him somehow. She scooted closer to him on the floor, making the space separating them not even a foot apart. She reached her hand out and brushed his long bangs away to the side of his face and held them there so she could see both of his eyes clearly. Moving her head even closer so neither of them could see anything except the other person's eyes she said, "I promise Ryoma, I won't tell a soul. Only you and I will know of this, not even Tomo-chan, you can even tell Horio-kun we decided to date for real if you want to."

"I d-" Ryoma began, but Sakuno cut him off.

"I also promise I will stay with you by your side for as long as you need me to."

She wasn't sure why she added that part on, she just felt the need to say it. She felt a desire to tell Ryoma somehow that there was this part of her that wanted to be with him, this part of her that responded to whatever it was in him that was lonely and crying out for her help, for someone normal to share his life with. It was so surreal she caught her breath, being completely taken in by the moment.

_What in the world was happening?_

Sakuno's hand slipped away as Ryoma leaned his head in closer to Sakuno's and paused a few inches away. Sakuno, frozen in the moment, watched him get closer in fascination and continued to hold her breath. He moved another inch closer, his eyes still locked on hers, but not really conveying any message to her, and she stared on blankly also at a loss. He moved closer still, and after another brief pausing point, the distance was lost and Sakuno felt the softest brush of Ryoma's lips against her own as her only notification before he kissed her fully. Whhaaaa...gently sucking her upper lip between his lips he slipped his tongue against the opening of her mouth and suddenly, Sakuno came to life. She kissed him back, wondering at the sensations she'd never experienced before.

So  _this_  was why people dated and kissed and fell in love and got married! All these years, she'd had no idea!

Ryoma broke the brief kiss and pulled away a few seconds after Sakuno had kissed him back, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with sensations and feeling a need to explain himself to her, they were, they were...what were they again?

"I just - I've never - and so we will...it's practice," he tried, desperate for an excuse. He tried to catch his breath and calm down his racing heart.  _Why had he kissed her?_  He'd never even wanted to kiss anybody before.  _What was she doing to him?_

Sakuno was giving him wide shining eyes and nodding in understanding, "I've never kissed before either, we definitely need to practice in private to be convincing." Her heart leapt in response to the very thought of touching his lips again.

How was she able to make so much sense right now when he couldn't even wrap his mind into a full sentence?

"Right," he found himself saying as he grabbed the back of her head to bring her closer to him.

"Right," he heard her agree as she eagerly followed his movement of grabbing onto the back of his neck, they met somewhere in the middle with anxious open mouths and allowed themselves to be consumed with the sudden desire to get closer, touch more, feel more. They kept at it until exhaustion won over their burning excitement for each other and they dozed off and eventually fell asleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Ryoma got up and turned the lights off and then rejoined Sakuno under the kotatsu blanket. Instead of moving over to his own place, he resumed his spot next to her, wrapping her smaller body in his arms, he thought nothing further on the rare level of comfort he had with her, and rather went back to sleep.

 


	4. Trial and Error

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

Very early the next morning, Fuji Syusuke knocked on Ryuzaki Sakuno's apartment door. Sakuno, Tomoka and a few of their other friends had moved to his security apartment building after he'd purchased it a couple of years ago when he'd finished his accelerated surgeon studies and taken up a fulltime practice. He'd seen it not only as a good investment, but also as a means to provide for his friends. His friends that he was currently checking up on. There was a disturbance at his building this morning like no other.

After not receiving a response after several knocks Fuji decided to go ahead and use his master lock key to open her apartment up so he could make sure she wasn't in any kind of trouble. Hopefully Sakuno-chan wouldn't hold it against him, he had her safety in mind here, nothing else. Really.

Opening the door, he called out, "Sorry to disturb. Hello?"

Making his way through the hallway which passed by her kitchen he arrived in the main living area and spotted her. Oh, did he ever spot her. She was in her pajamas sleeping on the floor under her kotatsu of all things, wrapped up in the arms of a young man wearing shorts and a t-shirt. What the?

"Ryuzaki Sakuno! What is going on?" he asked in mock scandalized horror, he just couldn't help himself from being dramatic.

Sakuno blinked in confusion as her brain woke up from Syusuke-kun's startled outcry. She furrowed her brow and began to process what was going on. She was under her kotatsu? What was she doing under her  _kotatsu_? _In the morning_? She had arms wrapped around her, and  _oh_.

Ohohohohoh...that'd be  _Ryoma_  her new _fake boyfriend_  she'd been  _making out with all night_  that was sleeping with her...

Her stomach did a little flip of nervous anticipation at that realization. At Syusuke-kun's outburst Ryoma had started stirring, and Sakuno knew he would be awake as well in a second. What was Ryoma going to do? Was it going to be weird waking up with her? Was he going to freak out? Was he going to take it all back? She started feeling a little sick at the very thought of it. When did Ryoma gain such a hold over her emotions? Was it the kissing? Oh boy. Okay...so then, but wait a minute. What was Syusuke-kun doing in her apartment?

"Syusuke-kun, what are you doing in my apartment?" Sakuno finally asked aloud in bewilderment. She felt Ryoma stiffen his arms around her as he woke to the sound of her voice.

Fuji, remembering the real problem gestured his arms in the direction of the complex's entrance, "There are a horde of reporters outside the building, so I came to check up on you and Tomoka-chan."

"How many?" Ryoma asked, now apparently awake as well, though he'd unashamedly kept his arms around Sakuno, and was even rubbing a little circle on her arm as if he woke up with her every morning.

_Wow_...Ryoma was either a really good actor or...or something. He was making her feel all sorts of mushy things right now. Sakuno suppressed a sigh of pleasure and exercised the utmost self control to NOT cuddle into Ryoma's soothing ministrations.

Fuji gaped at the strange man cuddled up with Sakuno.  _What_ _the_ _hell?_  Why was he acting like he belonged here, in Sakuno-chan's apartment, sleeping with her? Why wasn't Sakuno-chan beating this man to death? In all honesty, he'd been biding his time with his former kouhai waiting for her to be ready to start dating. Now he was waking up one morning to a paparazzi frenzy at his building and a strange man curled up around Sakuno-chan. Not cool.

"Who are you?" Fuji asked instead of answering Ryoma's question.

Sakuno sat up, Ryoma's arms falling away from her as he followed suit and sat up as well, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Sakuno combed her hair with her fingers as she answered for Ryoma.

"Ah, Syusuke-kun, this is my boyfriend, Echizen Ryoma-" Sakuno was cut off before she could finish her introduction.

"BOYFRIEND?" exclaimed Fuji followed quickly by a flabbergasted, _"Echizen Ryoma?_ The tennis champion Echizen Ryoma?" He gave Ryoma an assessing look before continuing, "Wait, it  _is_  Echizen Ryoma! Sakuno-chan, when did this happen? Is this why all these reporters are here?"

Ryoma poked Sakuno and said lowly, "Your friend knows who I am."

Sakuno rolled her eyes at Ryoma's taunt, and continued her introductions, "Ryoma, this is Fuji Syusuke-kun, my former senpai and current landlord. He is a genius tennis player himself, so  _of_ _course_   _he_  would know who  _you_  are."

Ryoma raised an eyebrow, "Really?" he asked as he turned his attention away from Sakuno and at their unannounced morning guest. He gave Fuji a blank look before blurting, "So you wanna play a match?"

Taken aback, Fuji nodded and fed on the burning fierceness that had suddenly flared up inside of him at the thought of playing a match against Echizen Ryoma, the prodigy world tennis champion, "Just tell me where and when."

Ryoma liked the look in Fuji's eyes and felt his own burning sense of rivalry he normally didn't experience with those he played against these days. Was it because he was Sakuno's friend or because he felt like this guy might actually be worth playing? Or was it both?

"If I can get away from the paparazzi, I'll play you today," Ryoma promised.

"Deal," Fuji said. He sat down at the kotatsu directly across from the side the two of them had been cuddling under earlier and were now sitting up at.

"I was hoping they'd leave during the night," Ryoma groused in annoyance under his breath.

"What are you going to do Ryoma?" Sakuno asked.

He shrugged, "Call Horio."

Sakuno nodded that she agreed while Ryoma dug his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Horio's here too?" Fuji asked Sakuno quietly as Ryoma started talking to Horio on the phone.

"He's at Tomo-chan's. You probably remember that he's Ryoma's manager. They came over last night after Ryoma's match at the coliseum while they were being chased by paparazzi," Sakuno explained.

"He's really your boyfriend?" Fuji asked quietly.

Sakuno blushed, but nodded, "Yes."

Fuji's typically shuddered eyes opened slightly, "I thought you didn't want to date."

Sakuno flushed further knowing it was true and that she'd expressed as much to Syusuke-kun just last week, and that she probably looked like a big hypocrite right about now. She let out a small huff of frustration and settled with mostly truth, "It just kind-of happened."

"I see, so after all those years talking about dating being for marriage only that's it then? Wait. How serious  _are_ _you_? Are you going to marry him?" he asked, sounding frustrated himself as he barraged her with questions.

Sakuno glanced to the side looking at Ryoma, wondering if he'd heard Syusuke-kun's questions, when it appeared that he was still engrossed with his phone call Sakuno answered, "I don't know, we just started dating, so I guess getting married would be a ways off...if ever."

Fuji didn't like the pout that accompanied Sakuno-chan's bummed out "if ever" addition to her comment, but kept it to himself. Unfortunately, it seemed like she was really into Echizen, though she'd have to be if he got her to break her 'no dating' policy. Oh and who was he kidding? Echizen Ryoma was the world tennis champion and even Fuji knew he was super popular with the ladies so it was no wonder Sakuno-chan would like him too. Still, why did _Sakuno-chan_  have to meet  _him_?

As Ryoma ended his call Fuji asked, "So how did you guys meet? Was it because of Horio?"

Ryoma smirked at the question while Sakuno shook her head, "Actually, we met at the coliseum, I was there delivering food and Ryoma was there for a match."

Sakuno looked down in surprise as Ryoma pulled her hand that was closest to him into one of his own bigger hands and held it as if couldn't bear to not touch her. Her heart rate noticeably increased with a sort of cautious excitement. What were these feelings Ryoma brought out in her? It was making her feel slightly crazy.

"It was love at first sight," Ryoma said with a mischievous smirk.

Sakuno gave Ryoma a look, but obediently nodded her head in agreement realizing somehow he was putting on a show for Syusuke-kun. At that realization the fluttering heart settled...a little, after all, he was still  _touching_  her.

_So was 'love at first sight' really going to be their story then?_

Suddenly a huge scream was heard followed by stomping, a door slamming closed and Sakuno's door flying open and banging into the wall.

"Ryoma-sama  _really_ _is_  heeeeeeeeere!" Squealed Osakada Tomoka. She ran into the room and flung herself down at the open side of the table that was between Fuji and Ryoma's side of the couple's shared side of the table.

At her outburst, Sakuno unconsciously squeezed Ryoma's hand that was holding hers tightly. Ryoma looked down at their clasped hands wondering what the squeeze was for. Was she nervous? Jealous? Riiight. Jealous. Sakuno didn't really like him, she was his  _fake_  girlfriend. It was all a show, he reminded himself. A show. Show. SHOW.

"T-Tomo-chan!" Sakuno exclaimed in shock from behind Ryoma.

Which was immediately followed from Sakuno's doorway by a scolding male, "Tomoka!" Horio stood there with his hands on his hips giving his girlfriend a fierce look.

Tomoka ignored him and instead smiled flirtatiously at Ryoma, "Nice to finally meet you Ryoma-sama! I'm Osakada Tomoka!"

"Ryoma- _sama_?" Ryoma repeated quietly to himself, but the horror in his tone of voice was not lost on Sakuno. Feeling somehow that such a horrified tone was her queue, she put her free hand about his arm and snuggled into his side. Though if she was being honest with herself, she wanted to do it. She wanted to do more than that. She wanted to make it perfectly clear to Tomo-chan that Ryoma was hers. Oh God,  _what_  was wrong with her today? _Was she losing her mind?_

"Good morning Tomo-chan," Sakuno greeted again over Ryoma's shoulder. She was not being possessive about Ryoma, she was just doing her job. Really. Honest. Really!

"Eh, Sakuno, what are you doing to Ryoma-sama?" Tomoka was quick to point out.

Ryoma, whom was feeling rather impressed by Sakuno's quick 'protective girlfriend' actions prompted by the new scary female answered instead, "Sakuno's my girlfriend." Hell if he wasn't feeling like the girl was perfect for him about now too.

"Whaaaat?  _No way_!" Tomoka exclaimed in disbelief as she banged her hand onto the top of the kotatsu for emphasis. She looked back and forth between the faces of her long-time idol crush and her best friend forever in shock.

Ryoma removed his hand from Sakuno's and his arm from her other hand so he could wrap it around her shoulders and pull her closer to him with pride. Sakuno gave Tomoka a convincing smile and ignored the butterflies that were flapping around in her stomach at feeling so much of Ryoma's body so close with hers. If she was this nervous and excited touching him amongst her friends, how was she ever going to do this in front of the world without fainting?

Horio took the last available side of the kotatsu across from Tomoka. Noticing the couple cuddling, he gave Ryoma and Sakuno a look of relief before he turned to Fuji and asked, "So how bad is the situation with the paparazzi this morning?"

"Bad," Fuji answered, "I had to call the police to keep them from getting into the building, which is why I came down here to check on the girls and make sure they weren't being harassed."

"Oh no," Horio said as he placed his face into his hands and let out a moan of frustration.

"Of course, when I started getting frantic calls from the tenants downstairs at 6 o'clock this morning I had no idea I would find Sakuno-chan had  _Echizen Ryoma sleeping with her_  in her apartment," Fuji added irritably.

"Sorry for the trouble Fuji-senpai, that was my fault. I brought him here to get away from them last night when they were waiting for him at the coliseum exit. It was the safest place I could think of that we could run to," Horio explained. He somehow completely missed the implication of them sleeping together.

"Is it also your fault that Sakuno-chan's dating him?" Fuji asked conspiratorially.

Horio let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head giving the couple a side-ways glance, "Nooooo...they uh-"

"Met yesterday at the coliseum and it was love at first sight, we already told you," Ryoma filled in, knowing he needed to jump in before Horio could blunder around the question.

Horio gave Ryoma a look of understanding before adding, "Yup, that's right. Love at first sight. He didn't know we were friends and they were both surprised to see each other when we got here, but it all worked out." He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded emphatically as if he'd known it all along.

Sakuno grinned at how quickly Horio-kun caught on, he  _really_ _was_  a professional manager. She was actually kind-of proud of her friend.

Ryoma looked somewhat bored by the whole song and dance and Fuji and Tomoka both kept looking at the three of them suspiciously as a long pause followed.

"Well," Tomoka finally said, "I'm happy for you guys."

Sakuno  _really_  wanted to hug her friend for being so supportive, but held back since she couldn't tell Tomo-chan everything and felt like a crummy friend that didn't deserve it.

"Fuji-san do you have a flat roof?" Ryoma asked.

"Yes, why?" Fuji asked.

"Do you think we could get a helicopter to come pick us up?" Ryoma asked.

"A helicopter!" Sakuno and Tomoka exclaimed in excited unison.

Ryoma looked at Sakuno to see her delighted expression at the idea of a helicopter and wondered if being exposed to his 'money is no object' lifestyle was going to shock all the things he liked about her out of her.

"It's not a big deal," he whispered to her.

She gave him a questioning look, but nodded anyways, "Okay."

"Actually," Fuji answered, "I have a landing pad on my roof I had built for emergencies."

"No kidding?" Horio asked.

"I am a surgeon," Fuji teased.

"Horio, handle it," Ryoma commanded and Horio quickly pulled out his cell phone and began searching for a helicopter company.

"Wow," Tomoka commented at Horio's quick obedience.

"Come with us," Ryoma said to Sakuno.

Sakuno frowned, she felt like her life had been swept out from under her overnight and she needed some time to process it all. Not to mention she desperately felt the need to have a bit of distance from Ryoma and collect together all those butterflies in her stomach. They were definitely not going to go away so long as she was with him and touching him and being touched, and goodness, he hadn't even kissed her yet this morning and it was making her all sorts of nervous and awkward feeling.

She shook her head, "I need to go to work, Ryoma."

"What time is work?" he asked.

"Let me check," Sakuno said as she stood up and made her way into her entry hallway where she kept her cell phone. She paused and let out a shaky breath hoping the butterflies would stop now that she'd managed to get away from him. Grabbing her cell phone off the charger on her hall table, she pulled up her calendar to check what her shift for the day was, and then promptly dropped the phone in shock as Ryoma came up behind her and startled her to death.

Ryoma bent down and picked her phone up handing it back to her without a word.

"Sorry, you startled me," Sakuno found herself explaining anyway.

Ryoma turned away from her and looked towards the living room to see if the others were watching them. What he really wanted to do was more kissing "practice," but instead he said, "If you aren't coming with us, then we should exchange phone numbers while the others aren't around."

"Good idea," Sakuno agreed, "Do you have Bump?"

"Yeah," Ryoma answered as he pulled up the contact sharing app on his phone while Sakuno did the same on hers. They tapped their phones together and accepted each other's contact information.

"It will be better if you come," Ryoma said.  _Really?_ As if he couldn't let her out of his sight? He wanted to bang his head into the wall so he would stop blurting things out to this girl. What the  _HELL_  was wrong with him?

Sakuno shook her head, "Even if I quit today, I still need to go in to see my teacher and explain. What are you going to do before we leave for Australia?"

"Call my old man about the temple, play a match with Fuji-san..." Ryoma offered.

Sakuno felt a bit put on the spot at the expectant look he was giving her, but this is what she'd signed up for, right? What was she getting all nervous about now? She'd kissed him. She'd given her _first kiss_  to him. She was already committed, she reminded herself.

"I'll call you after work today," she finally offered.

Ryoma nodded as he hesitantly moved closer to her and fumbled a bit awkwardly before he brushed his lips against hers. At the contact, Sakuno's heart leapt into her throat in excitement. Why, oh why, did she feel like she'd been waiting all morning for that? As he moved back a bit she looked up into his hazel eyes with wonder. He gave her a half smirk before dipping his head back for more and just as they'd made contact again, they were interrupted by Tomoka's loud voice yelling from the living room area, "What are you guys  _doing?_ You've been gone  _forever!"_

They  _almost_  jumped apart.

Caught. Ryoma looked at Sakuno's wide eyes gazing at him through her flushed red expression and somehow knew she felt as if she'd been caught too. Why did they feel that way? Was it because the two of them knew they weren't really dating, so they had no reason to be kissing secretly in Sakuno's hallway?

To hell with that! He'd decided that he liked kissing Sakuno very much and that was all there was to it. So there.

Taking her hand into his own, Ryoma walked the two of them back towards the kotatsu where the group of friends were strategizing Ryoma and Horio's exit from the premises.

"There you guys are...what were you doing?" Tomoka asked when they came back into her view.

"Just checking my work schedule, Tomo-chan," Sakuno answered as the two sat back at the low table. Ryoma ignored Horio's loud girlfriend and as they sat back down he made sure Sakuno was sitting next to her. He preferred to be closer to Horio anyways so they could talk without the whole table hearing them.

"When will they be here to pick us up?" Ryoma asked Horio.

He checked the time on his phone, "Probably 10 minutes from now. Fuji-senpai said he'll escort us up to the roof."

"Fuji-san should come with us," Ryoma said.

"Why?" Horio asked.

"We promised to play a match," Fuji explained, jumping into the conversation.

"Oh, I wanna come too! I want to watch!" Tomoka interjected.

"Horio, stay here with your girlfriend so you can keep an eye on Sakuno," Ryoma said.

"Good idea," Horio said.

"I don't need to be watched!" Sakuno protested as Tomoka made protests of disappointment.

"Ah, Ryuzaki, as soon as the reporters find out you're Echizen's girlfriend you'll probably have to move to a different apartment, at least for a while. Once they get your name, they'll camp out here permanently hoping to get a story on you and Echizen," Horio explained.

"Really?" Tomoka and Sakuno asked in unison.

All three of the men nodded at them as Fuji added, "It's true Sakuno-chan, I've heard of this stuff before, but don't worry, I'll keep your apartment open for you when you can come back."

"I-I'm..." Sakuno was at a loss for words. No wonder Ryoma had offered her so much money, her whole life was going to be pulled out from under her.

"Don't be sad Sakuno!" Tomoka exclaimed, "You're dating Ryoma-sama, he's only like the hottest guy on earth! You're the envy of every girl!"

Sakuno suppressed a sigh at Tomoka's silly speech. Sometimes her friend came off as really shallow and Sakuno knew she wasn't, but it still got under her skin sometimes when Tomoka just talked nonsense. Oh honestly, she berated herself, why was she picking on Tomoka for being positive?

What she really needed was some space to breathe and think. She stood up from the kotatsu and announced to the room, "I'm going to start getting ready for work then." She had a desperate desire to get back to her regular routine or she felt she just might lose it. She started heading into the hallway that lead to her bedrooms, bathrooms and office to take a shower.

Ryoma watched Sakuno get up and veiled the worry from his eyes with a blank look.

Damn.

She didn't look happy.

"What are you doing Ryoma-sama? You won't get to see Sakuno again before you leave, you better go give her a goodbye kiss or something!" Tomoka scolded as she shooed the tennis prince towards the hallway.

Grateful that Horio's loud girlfriend had come up with a good excuse, he leapt to his feet and caught Sakuno at the threshold leading into the hallway towards the bedrooms.

"Sorry about all this," he whispered as he took one of her hands into his and gave her a tender kiss over the back of her knuckles.

Why did he have to be so damned charming when they were alone? Sakuno sighed and whispered back, "I just need to get used to it."

"I promise I'll take care of you," Ryoma added even quieter than his first whisper to make sure nobody heard what he said except Sakuno.

Actually feeling somewhat comforted at his words, which brought a whole extra mess of emotions she wasn't ready to deal with to the fore, Sakuno bit her lip in determination to fight back the tears that were welling up in her throat. She gave Ryoma a nod of confidence she didn't really have.

Ryoma looked at their audience out of the corner of his eyes and said under his breath, "Time to put all our practice to good use."

Sakuno didn't even get a chance to get out the confused 'what?' that was on the tip of her tongue before he was kissing her again. Kissing her the way he had the second time last night...all tender, but passionate, wondrously exploring the new experience. Sakuno could swear she could hear her heart beating a mile a minute, but grasped onto Ryoma and kissed him back with everything she had. A couple of minutes later, they separated and with a blush, Sakuno scurried off into the hallway away from Ryoma and the gaping looks of her houseguests.

Ryoma rejoined the group in the living area not even bothering to hide his satisfied smirk and standing above them said, "Let's go."

Collecting his startled self together after having witnessed such a public display of affection, Fuji shook his head as if to clear the image he was sure had to be  _burned_  into his brain of the two of them practically  _melting_  into one being. He swiftly stood up with another shake of his head, he was definitely not going to think about that...ever.

As the two exited towards the hallway, Horio and Tomoka followed suit, deciding mutually they'd go back to Tomoka's apartment for the time being. All four of them gathered at the entrance to slide their shoes back on, and Ryoma grabbed his tennis bag and his hat he'd discarded the night before upon coming into the apartment. Slipping his hat over his head he glanced down at his cell phone that had just gone off indicating he'd received a new text message. Giving Horio and Horio's girlfriend a wave over his shoulder he followed Fuji towards the elevator and pulled up his message to read it.

HORIO: Echizen. WTH was that?

Ryoma tapped the blank area to type in his response:

What?

After tapping the send button, he stepped into the elevator behind Fuji. They went up a floor and then exited directly into the penthouse apartment.

"This is my place," Fuji explained as they stepped into the large receiving room.

Ryoma looked around for a second, "Nice."

"Thanks. I'm going to go grab my tennis gear, wait here for a minute," Fuji instructed as Ryoma's phone blipped again.

As Fuji walked away Ryoma pulled his phone out again.

HORIO: I thought you guys were going to  _fake_  date!

Ryoma smirked as he tapped the blank area and typed in his reply:

We're not fake dating.

A second later, his phone blipped again.

HORIO: WTH Echizen! You better not be messing around with Ryuzaki! I don't care that you're my boss, I'll get the whole tennis team together and beat you silly if you hurt her.

Ryoma raised an eyebrow at Horio's unexpected protectiveness of Sakuno, but found himself typing out an honest reply instead of another mischievous one:

I'm the one that's left behind when people get sick of the fame.

Horio knew it all too well too. Not only had Ryoma been passed from one manager after another that couldn't take the pressure combined with his don't-give-a-crap attitude before Horio had taken the job, but he'd also seen Ryoma ditched by many a so-called "friend," over the few years he'd been working for him. After all there was rich, and there was famous, there was rich and famous, and then there was downright super rich and famous. More often than not, people couldn't hang with it for long.

"The stairs to the roof are this way," Fuji announced as he rejoined Ryoma and started down a hallway to the left.

Ryoma slipped his phone back into his pocket and followed the slightly older man. They proceeded to the corner of the building and up a staircase that had a door that opened directly onto the roof where their helicopter was already on the landing pad waiting for them. An escort from the chopper rushed to meet them, and handing them earphones indicated for them to follow his line onto the awaiting chopper.

Back inside Tomoka's apartment Horio Satoshi stared at his cell phone and gave out a big sigh before tapping out his response to Ryoma:

Sorry Echizen. I didn't mean it like that.

Ryoma's phone blipped again, but he didn't hear it over the sounds of the helicopter.


	5. Reflections and Changes

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

Sakuno made her way down her long hallway to the very end where her large master bedroom awaited. Closing the door behind her silently she leaned back against it, closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the soothing scent of lavender she kept in her room. Her room, her sanctuary. Her place she ran off to when she needed peace, solace, comfort...

Letting out a sigh she made her way to her generous en-suite bathroom and ran the taps to fill her tub. She sat briefly on her bathing stool and washed her hair and gave her skin a good scrub down before rinsing and easing into her large luxurious bath. Sakuno had always been grateful to have such a luxurious apartment thanks to Syusuke-kun's kindness, but it was the large bath that she loved the most. Taking a breath she dropped her head under the water. Letting her hair fly out around her in swirling waves she listened to the noise of the tub's jets block out the world.

Her world that had been turned on it's head and flipped over in one night.

One night.

By one man.

She blew a few bubbles out as she broke her head back out of the water. Taking a deep breath, she submerged again. Oh...whatever was she going to do from now on? Would she have to live with Ryoma then? Would they be...gulp...sharing not only the same roof, but also the same bed? Could  _that_  be part of her contract? Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no...just what had she gotten herself into? Traveling around a bit with a sexy tennis star was one thing, but being stalked by paparazzi, and forced to leave her home? And maybe...well...it didn't seem like Ryoma was the type, after all, he was like her in the previous experience and lack of romance due to being super busy department, but now that they'd been kissing, and oh...she'd just gone and made-out with him all night and then slept in his arms and...

She burst out of the water again gasping for breath. She draped her arms over the side of the tub and coughed for air for a minute at the very thought of the possibility that Echizen Ryoma, the famous tennis prince could ever have so much of a real interest in her to want to do THAT.

Well...then again, it might not even come to interest she realized with an embarrassed flush that wasn't even noticeable due to her overheated red complexion from the hot water. No...in fact...Ryoma by way of her contract of being his serious girlfriend could simply tell her that she had to sleep with him to maintain the image. The image that they were a serious couple. Then what would she do? He was paying her for her services wasn't he? Could that really include something...wait. Wouldn't that just make her a rather expensive prostitute? Oh no...no. She refused to believe that. She'd just tell him no and that would be the end of their little charade if he had a problem with it.

Only...she'd promised him. She'd promised she would stay with him by his side for as long as he needed her. Oh...why did she say that? Was she starstruck by him and decided it would be a good idea to promise to bend to his whims for as long as he could stand her for?

She sighed as she thunked her forehead against the edge of the bath. A promise was a promise. It meant something to her. She was pretty darn sure that it meant something to Echizen Ryoma too.

Well...then...he had promised he would take care her didn't he?

That was something. Well, that is to say, it was enough to make  _her_  feel like a schoolgirl whose first crush had just acknowledged her. She giggled to herself for a second before stopping herself in dawning horror.

OH NO. She  _really_ _did_   _like_  Ryoma. Not just in a he's good looking kind of way either, no...she definitely  _liked_  him. This was going to be a problem, especially if he kept being all charming and kissing her, even when they were alone. Maybe she should set up some rules and boundaries with him for while they were in private. Something to keep her from falling into the fantasy they were presenting to the world so she could keep her reality in perspective. She definitely couldn't fall in love with Echizen Ryoma. He was paying her to avoid exactly that, wasn't he? Not to mention the terribly good-looking prodigy would never really choose someone like her if he was being serious. Nodding determinedly at the wall, Sakuno got out of the bath and began her dressing ritual of drying off, combing her hair, et cetera.

That was it then.

She would  _absolutely not_  fall in love with Echizen Ryoma.

* * *

About 2 hours later, Sakuno was even more unhappy than she'd been when she'd fled her apartment living room to get ready for work. This was complete and utter madness, that's what it was and oh, it was all her fault. How would she ever get out of this mess?

The morning had been typical enough, sans the wakeup a la Syusuke-kun, the fake boyfriend factor and the mob of reporters that had bombarded her as she'd left her building for work. Walking out of the large apartment complex she'd been surrounded rather suddenly by cameras and voices. All wanting something from her.

Finally she'd sputtered out a "no comment" before running away towards work.

She'd thought it would be just fine until about half an hour ago when a few reporters had shown up at the ramen shop. She hadn't really thought much of it until so many of them started gathering outside the door that they were scaring off the real customers that were there to eat. After half an hour of it her boss had finally gone out there to yell at them, and had quickly retreated back into the restaurant, his face red and blotchy with anger.

"Ryuzaki! Do something about this immediately! It's you they want, so fix this...NOW," he had yelled at her.

Her worst fear being realized, Sakuno didn't know what to do. She hid in the kitchen and peeked around the corner to see the paparazzi just past the windows every minute or so, her mind racing with questions.

Just how had they found out? What did they know? How did they find her? What was she supposed to do now? How could she get out of there without facing them again?

Since she was completely out of her element, she determined she would need some help so she shuffled her cell phone out of her purse. Her first thought was actually to call Ryoma of all people, oh, how quickly he had wormed himself into her life! Frustrated with her thoughts she decided she didn't really want to bother him, and well...wasn't she supposed to be protecting him from the paparazzi? Wouldn't he just think she was pathetic at her job? On the first day no less? Ryoma was definitely OUT.

Who else knew how to handle these crazy people though?

Oh...right! The one that got her into this whole mess in the first place.

Horio Satoshi.

Scrolling through her contacts list Sakuno was upset to find Horio's cell phone number absent. Well...probably because it was an international call since he'd have a US cell phone and number. Not that she couldn't afford something like that after all the money Ryoma had promised her. Oh...this was horrible! Now what?

Well...it was possible that Horio was still in the company of her best friend forever Tomo-chan. Perfect. She would call Tomo-chan because even if Horio wasn't with her, Tomo-chan would know what to do! Tomo-chan would probably come save her without the stupid boys' help because that was the kind of person she was. She should have thought of calling her first, that's what.

Nodding to herself at her internal pep talk Sakuno quickly went back to her home screen and touched her speed dial setting for Tomoka's cell phone.

She picked up right away.

"Sakunoooooo! How are you? How's work? Have you talked to Ryoma-sama or seen him since you left? You are so lucky to be dating him! KYYAAAAAA!"

Sakuno, accustomed to her spirited friend's exuberance bore the minor frustration of being unable to get a word in edgewise with the grace of years of practice.

"Sakuno!  _Really_! I can't believe you had  _THE_ _PRINCE_  stay at your place last night, I am sooo  _jealous_! So tell me, how awesome of a kisser is he? I can't believe you kissed him, by the way, I mean, he is Ryoma-sama, but I never imagined you going out with anybody after all these years, and for it to be Ryoma-sama, and to be kissing him! KYAAAA!"

After quite a few minutes more of excessive blabbering about Sakuno's new highly esteemed position in the world Tomoka finally calmed enough to allow Sakuno to interject, though rather quietly, "Tomo-chan, I'm in trouble and I need your help."

Tomoka's enthusiasm was instantly doused and quickly replaced with frantic concern, "Wait. What? Why didn't you tell me you were in trouble? What's wrong? Where are you? I'll come right away!"

Sakuno steeled another glance around the edge of the kitchen's doorway and surveyed the mass of reporters outside the shop, "Uhm...well, you see...there's a mob of paparazzi here at the shop and they're waiting for me outside."

"WHAT? How did they find out?" Tomoka instantly exploded with righteous fury, "How dare they harass you! This is so ridiculous! I'm going to tell Satoshi and see what he says you should do, he deals with this stuff all the time for Ryoma-sama, so he'll know, okay? Hold on."

Sakuno worried her bottom lip between her teeth at her imaginings of how the conversation between Tomoka and Horio was going and feared for Ryoma finding out. Ugh! She should have told Tomo-chan to keep it a secret.

A couple of minutes passed before Tomoka was back on the line, "Sakuno, just sit tight and stay out of their view. We're going to take care of this for you, if you need to do anything else, we'll give you a call."

Sakuno almost cried tears of relief, "Thank you Tomo-chan."

"Of course I will always help you! I gotta go now, talk to you soon, okay?"

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

Sakuno touched the red "End Call" button on her cell phone and tapped the button on top to turn the screen off before she put her phone back into her pocket. What a day this was, and it wasn't even lunch time yet.

* * *

Echizen Ryoma was having an altogether different morning than his new fake girlfriend was. After leaving Sakuno's apartment complex with Fuji they'd flown the few minutes to Ryoma's 5 star hotel and landed on the roof there. After being escorted by the hotel staff into the building Ryoma had quickly given orders of what was to be done.

"I'm checking out, I'll need a car and a bell in my room to get my luggage out as soon as possible," he directed as they entered the building and walked down the hallway to the penthouse suite Ryoma had booked for the week.

"Checking out, sir? Was there any problem with your accommodations?" the hotel's assistant manager that had met them at the helipad asked.

"Everything is fine, my plans have changed, if you'll excuse us, I need to pack," Ryoma replied as he opened his wallet and fished his keycard out.

"I'll get right on your requests then sir," the assistant manager said as he bowed and made his way towards the hall elevator.

Ryoma and Fuji arrived at Ryoma's hotel room door and after sliding the keycard and opening the door, they were greeted by Ryoma's fluffy Himalayan cat.

"Meee-row!"

"Karupin!" Ryoma exclaimed as he bent down to affectionately pet his cat.

Karupin flopped on the floor and rolled around cutely, enticing Ryoma to rub his stomach.

"What a cute kitty you have Echizen-san," Fuji commented as he bent down to pet the cat as Ryoma raised himself upright and made his way towards the walk-in closet in his suite.

"Thanks," Ryoma replied distractedly as he started throwing his belongings into a large suitcase. There wasn't too much really, most of the time he'd have the hotel maid services dry clean his clothes while away from home, so he tended to pack light. There was nothing he hated more than being weighed down with a lot of luggage while traveling around the world. There was enough he had to bring with just his tennis equipment and Karupin. If he really needed something he didn't pack, he just bought it. Finishing up his task within a few minutes, he left the closet and noticed Fuji lounging on the sofa playing with a happy Karupin. He dropped his bag and Karupin's things by the door entry and taking his tennis bag in hand, he tossed it on his large bed.

"I'm going to take a quick shower," Ryoma informed his guest as he quickly rushed into the bathroom and took a true athlete's 5 minute scrub, wash and dry. By the time he was out of the bathroom in a fresh set of clothes, the bellhop had arrived to take his luggage to the car. Giving the bell a nod of thanks, Ryoma sat on the other sofa facing Fuji and took his cell phone out.

Fuji was busy playing with Karupin and Ryoma watched them distractedly as he tapped the button on the top of his phone to wake it up and slid down the bar to release the touchscreen. Scrolling through his contacts, he quickly selected a number and put the phone up to his ear.

"Seishounen! You never call, to what do we owe this pleasure?"

Ryoma fought hard not to roll his eyes, "I decided I want to move to the temple in Tokyo, how do I get the keys?"

"Why, we're doing very well, thank you for asking. It's good to hear from you too! Moving to Tokyo? When are you coming home to play tennis with me?" Echizen Nanjiro, as usual was in top annoying the hell out of his son form.

Ryoma let out a huff of exasperation, "Put Mom on the phone."

"Fine, fine, you stubborn kid, you need to get a hold of the old hag," Nanjiro relented.

"The what?" Ryoma asked.

"The old hag, Ryuzaki Sumire, she's kept an eye on the place ever since your cousin Nanako-chan moved out," he explained.

"Ryuzaki...Sumire?" Ryoma asked absently, wondering if she could be related to his new girlfriend. It had to just be a coincidence, right?

"Yes, I'll text you her phone number and address, and the address for the temple. Don't forget to come visit your parents sometimes, okay Ryoma? Or maybe we'll just show up at the temple, there's a tennis court there, you remember?" Nanjiro said.

"Tell Mom I'll call again later," Ryoma said and then touched the end call button before his dad could get into his business more than he already had.

"Fuji-san," he said, "The temple has a tennis court."

"That's good news, I'd hate to be interrupted by fans if we were at a public court," Fuji said as he opened his eyes a crack to give Ryoma a challenging gaze.

Ryoma's phone blipped and he pulled it out to check the text messages with the promised information.

"Pardon me," Fuji said, "But did I hear you say Ryuzaki Sumire?"

Ryoma gave a grunt of affirmation.

"I know her so I can take you to her place," Fuji offered.

"You know her?" Ryoma asked, his curiosity strangely piqued. He wondered again if she was related to Sakuno.

Fuji merely nodded. "Shall we?" He asked as he stood up. He purposely left out how he knew Ryuzaki Sumire and that she was in fact, related to Sakuno. Oh, he was looking forward very much to introducing his tough old coach to her granddaughter's new famous boyfriend. Ryoma would be in for a world of hurt. He grinned pleasantly.

Ryoma decided to drop the topic of the "old hag" and stood up as well. Grabbing Karupin off the floor, he stuffed his cat into his carrier bag and grabbing his tennis bag off the bed, headed for the door, with Fuji close behind.

* * *

Ryuzaki Sumire was sipping her morning coffee leisurely while perusing the morning's paper when she was startled by an unexpected knock at her front door. Curious, she set her paper and coffee mug down and went to the door. She took a look through her front window towards her porch on her way to opening the front door.

She opened the door with a big smile and a welcoming gesture for her guests to come in, "Fuji! What a pleasant surprise! How are you doing?"

"Sumire-chan, so good to see you," Fuji greeted back, causing his former coach to give him a bit of a glare at his unappreciated address. The ends he would go to get a rise out of people. He would never change.

The two men took their shoes off in the entryway, with a quick "sorry to disturb" to the house at large as Ryusaki Sumire watched the back of the unknown young man, wondering who he was and what he was doing visiting her with her former student. As the young man turned around and she got a good look at his face from under his cap, she gasped and took a step back.

"My, but you must be Echizen Ryoma!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Accustomed to people knowing him by sight, Ryoma gave a quick nod, but was surprised by her next comment, "Now that you're grown up, you look quite a bit like your father, Nanjiro; how is the brat doing?"

Ryoma paused and gave the older woman an accessing look as Fuji coughed around a laugh.

"He's the same," Ryoma finally settled on saying.

"Well, that's good I suppose, and your mother is she well too?" Sumire asked.

"She is good," Ryoma said, feeling more and more uncomfortable with the old woman's familiarity even though he didn't know her at all.

"Well, there's no reason to be standing in the doorway," she said as she turned and led the way to her sitting room. "I suppose, Fuji, you brought young Echizen here to show off to me, but I'll have you know, I've known this young man since he was a baby," she added with a smirk in Fuji's direction.

"Ah, actually, Echizen-san wanted to come see you," Fuji explained as the three took seats around the sofa set Sumire had in her sitting room.

"Really? So what brings you here?" Sumire asked addressing Ryoma directly.

"My Dad said you'd have the keys to the house," Ryoma explained.

"Oh, is that all?" she asked as she rose from her seat and fetched her purse from the table in the hallway. Walking back to the boys she handed Ryoma a set of keys that he quickly pocketed with a polite thank you.

"So tell me, Fuji, how is Sakuno doing?" Sumire asked as she took her seat again.

"Sakuno?" Ryoma questioned before Fuji could open his mouth to answer.

Sumire looked at Ryoma, "Did you talk to Sakuno recently too?"

There was no doubt about it now. The 'old hag' was related to his girlfriend. Ryoma fought off the embarrassment of being introduced to Sakuno's family so quickly into their relationship and slunk down in his seat a bit while adjusting his cap a bit nervously. Still, he had to confirm it, "Do you mean the Ryuzaki Sakuno that lives in the apartment complex Fuji-san owns?"

"The very one," Sumire confirmed.

Before Ryoma could think of the best response he was slugged in the upper arm by none other than Fuji, who happily crowed, "Oh, he definitely  _knows how she's doing_ , I found him  _sleeping with her_  in her apartment this morning!"

"What's this?" Sumire asked as Ryoma rubbed his slugged arm and gave a nervous look at Sakuno's grandmother.

"Sakuno was kind enough to put me up last night after I'd been chased down by paparazzi," he quickly explained in all innocence.

"She did, huh?" Sumire rebutted with a raised eyebrow.

Caught. Ryuzaki Sumire was definitely looking at him like she knew there was more to it than that. He shot Fuji an irritated look that was returned with a mock smile of innocence.

Ryoma stood, "Thank you very much for your hospitality Ryuzaki-san, Fuji-san and I have a match to play, so we'll be going."

"Wait right there, Ryoma!" Sumire said as she also stood, and Ryoma stopped dead in his tracks.

Crap.

Walking around him, Sumire faced him and gave him an appraising look before she broke into a pleasant smile, "You know kid, Nanjiro and I always agreed that the two of you make a cute couple."

Ryoma blinked at the older woman in surprise.  _What_   _the_?

She chuckled at her success at catching the young tennis star off guard, "Don't you remember?" At Ryoma's blank look she decided to leave him guessing with only adding, "Hmmm, well consider it that you have my blessing."

Fuji started coughing.

This "old hag" was pretty cool, wasn't she? Unable to help it, Ryoma cracked a smirk, and decided to say the right thing, "I'll take good care of her."

"I already know that. Well, don't be a stranger now that you're going to be in Tokyo. Bring my cute granddaughter around for dinner every once in a while, all right?"

"I'll tell her you said that," Ryoma quipped.

Sumire grabbed his cheek and gave him a good pinch, "Don't be sly with me Ryoma. I know I'll be seeing you and Sakuno soon."

Ryoma rubbed his cheek, and complained about being abused as Sumire gave a hearty laugh.

Making their way out of Ryuzaki Sumire's apartment the two young men got back into Ryoma's rental car and made their way to the temple property. After opening the gates, and dropping Karupin off inside the house, they made their way up the temple's steps to the tennis court, and set about playing their much anticipated match.

After only 2 games, one of which Fuji had won in showing Ryoma all his signature moves and one of which Ryoma had won, showing Fuji how quickly he picked up on the special skills of those he played, and thus forcing Fuji to acknowledge to himself what a truly fierce tennis player Echizen Ryoma the world champion was, they were interrupted by Ryoma's cell phone ringing. Which was really a shame, since they were both really starting to get into the match.

Grabbing his phone off the worn bench in the court area, Ryoma slid the incoming call screen to answer irritably, "Horio, what is it?"

"Echizen, it's Ryuzaki, she's in trouble!" Horio said.

"What?" Ryoma asked, as he turned to Fuji and waved him off the court. He stuffed his racquet into his tennis bag, and zipped it up.

"What's the matter?" Fuji asked knowing already that whatever it was had to be serious for Echizen to quit a match.

Ryoma shook his head to Fuji as he listened to Horio explain what had happened over the phone.

"I'll take care of it," Ryoma said.

"But Echizen, I should take care of this, if you go to her now, won't that just make things worse?" Horio asked.

"I can take care of her, just stay put," Ryoma barked back before he tapped the end call button and stuffed his phone in his pocket.

"Fuji-san, I need you to take me to Sakuno's work," he said.

Fuji packed up his own racquet and as they made their way off Ryoma's property and back into his rental car Ryoma caught him up on the situation.

 


	6. It's Never Easy

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

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Chapter Six

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Arriving at the building complex that included the ramen shop where Sakuno was the apprentice, the two young men surveyed the building from within the confines of Ryoma's rental car. At the wheel, Fuji pointed the far end of the building out to Ryoma, "There might be a way to get into the building from there and move inside all the way to the other side where the ramen house is. See how it's all connected? There might even be doors on the inside connecting each store with the next one."

Ryoma thought this was a pretty good plan, but figured that if that were a real possibility Sakuno probably would have already made her way out of the building by this method. Still, it bore looking into, "Park here please Fuji-san, and stay ready with the car on, we could be spotted and need to get away quickly at any time."

Fuji nodded in agreement as he pulled up to the curb and put the car's automatic transmission into park.

Ryoma quickly exited the vehicle and slipped into the convenience store that was at the opposite end of the building from Sakuno's ramen house. Making his way to the side of the store, he was actually surprised to find there was connecting door. Opening it up, he proceed directly into a hair salon. After receiving a few startled looks from the working beauticians, he progressed across the salon and through another door into the kitchen of a bakery. The fresh bread smelled rather heavenly, and at present there were no bakers about. Ryoma figured they were probably in the front serving their customers. So he made his way through the kitchen to where the next door, the one that would connect to the ramen house would be, and was dismayed to encounter nothing but wall and a vast cooking counter space.

Damn. It was never easy, was it?

He thought of going out the backdoor, but knowing the paparazzi, especially when they were gathered in large numbers as the amount he'd seen at the front of the ramen house, he knew well enough that the backdoor would be covered by a couple, if not several anxious photographers. He turned to backtrack and try to find another way when his attention was caught by the sunlight filtering across the floor of the bakery's kitchen.

Sunlight? He looked up and spotted a vented skylight that was at present propped open, allowing the sun and fresh air to stream in through the large gap.

Now that...might work, and hopefully there was an identical one opening into Sakuno's ramen house kitchen. Grabbing the stool that was ensconced under the large cooking countertop, he stealthy eased his way through the skylight and onto the building's roof.

There it was...several feet away was an identical skylight that was also propped open by a crank. Dropping the bakery's skylight covering back down from where it had been before he'd shifted it's position to a larger opening to get through, he jogged over to the one atop Sakuno's ramen house. Grabbing the edge of it, he pulled the top to a ninety-degree angle, lay across the ground and stuck his head through the hole.

Sakuno was slumped on the floor, her back against the steel cabinets that lined the partition to the main part of the restaurant. She was looking down to her lap, where she held her cell phone against her one outstretched leg.

Looking at the area directly below him, Ryoma was satisfied to see nothing but floor, and deeming it was safe, he sat up and then dropped into the kitchen.

"Sakuno!" he announced as he landed gracefully from the large drop.

Sakuno looked up from the floor and blinked in surprise, "Ryoma? Am I seeing things?"

Ryoma made his way over to her, and taking his cap off his head dropped it over her hair buns, "I'm really here." He watched in satisfaction as her buns fell into ponytails under his cap.

She made a clumsy, yet cute scramble to her feet, "Ryoma! How did you get in here?"

He pointed towards the opened skylight.

Sakuno looked up, her mouth forming an "O" as understanding dawned on her. Why hadn't she thought of  _that_? It was so simple and then she wouldn't have had to call for help!

"I thought Horio was coming," She said.

Ryoma made a disgruntled harumph, but none the less enjoyed the sight of Sakuno wearing his hat, and reminded himself that now wasn't really a good time for kissing her. To take his mind off of more pleasant activities he stepped around her and took a quick peek around the kitchen's corner to view the paparazzi outside.

"What did you say to them?" he asked her as he looked back at her.

"When I left the building for work, I said 'no comment' and I ran here, that's it," she informed him dejectedly.

As Ryoma gave another lingering glance around the corner at their stalkers, Sakuno fetched a small ladder from the closet and set it up under the skylight. Climbing up the steps she reached the top, looked up and jumped up enough to get her arms over the top of the opening just as Ryoma turned back to her.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, shocked that she'd been so careless as to jump off the top of a ladder like that to hoist herself up on the roof. He watched as she pulled herself up and her legs disappeared into the hole, and a second later sunlight once again streamed down through the opening.

Well now...that was actually somewhat impressive...

For a girl.

He wasn't expecting  _that_.

Ryoma quickly followed ascending the ladder and hoisting himself back onto the rooftop giving Sakuno an annoyed look. Seriously...she could have hurt herself.

She was a few feet away looking towards the far end of the building probably looking for the rest of the escape route causing Ryoma's scowl to be lost on her and increasing his ire. Walking over to her, Ryoma took her hand and began to lead her over to the opposite end of the long building.

"Thanks for giving me your hat, it helped me get up here without the sun blinding me," Sakuno said as they walked briskly along the rooftop, carefully avoiding the debris that had collected up there over the years.

"Hn."

He was still rather busy pouting over her surprising display of guts and athleticism and was feeling rather put-out of his previously envisioned "hero" role.

Reaching the end of the building, the two quickly descended the escape ladder that rolled over the top of the roof and down the side of the building towards the ground. Ryoma spotted Fuji waiting in his rental car, and taking Sakuno's hand once again tugged her in the direction of their "getaway" vehicle.

As the two cleared the side of the building and reached the sidewalk a cry was heard from the opposite end of the building where the reporters had been milling about waiting for Sakuno to come out of her workplace.

Quickly closing the distance to the car, Ryoma put one hand on the backdoor handle and then turning back around towards Sakuno, he used their entwined hands to tug her into stumbling into him. She let out a started cry as he stopped her fall by letting go of her hand and wrapping his arm around her smaller frame. Holding her against him, he flashed a smug look towards the running paparazzi and whispered to her, "I'll take my reward kiss now."

"Wha-"

Sakuno melted into Ryoma's arms for a second, completely forgetting herself and the tense moment they were in. He was kissing her again, and it felt...oh, so right. It was as if she'd been waiting for him to kiss her ever since he'd popped in through the skylight in the ceiling. Her heart fluttered as his arms wrapped more tightly around her, pulling her closer for a second, and then all too quickly, he was releasing her, opening the door and shoving her into the backseat of the car they'd been leaning against.

"Go!" Ryoma yelled as he jumped in behind her and slammed the door closed.

Needing no further instruction, Fuji threw the car into drive and hit the gas pedal to the floor. Well then...hanging out with Echizen Ryoma was certainly entertaining. Fuji cracked a small smile.

Looking out the back window of the car, Ryoma and Sakuno watched the reporters waving their cameras in the air after them as they sped off down the road. Sakuno let out a small giggle of relief, followed by a snicker from the two boys. Within seconds all three of them had erupted into raucous laughter accompanied by random comments of their escapades and quick getaway that morning.

As they calmed from their laughter Sakuno wiped a stray laugh tear from her left eye while Ryoma reached across the seat and took her right hand into his own. Her heartbeat raced once again at a frantic pace. Looking over at him, he gave the appearance of utter calm as he watched the city scenery flash by them through the windows in the front of the car. He wasn't even looking at her, she thought with slight annoyance. She thought about shaking her hand free, but figured that would be a bad idea since it might get Syusuke-kun's attention and she didn't want to alarm her friend. Ugh! How was she supposed to protect her heart from Ryoma when he kept taking care of her, and kissing her, and randomly touching her like this? Pulling Ryoma's cap down lower over her forehead she unknowingly let out a sigh of her discontentment.

Fuji was clueless as to her mood, but Ryoma caught her sigh. Looking at Sakuno from the corner of his eyes, he wondered what the source of her displeasure was, and hoped desperately that she wasn't already sick of being his girlfriend. How could he know though? And if she was already sick of it, what could he do to convince her to stay with him? He'd just given the paparazzi the teaser they needed to run rampant with stories of his  _now-existent_ love-life, so the last thing he needed was an  _unwilling_  fake girlfriend. He ignored the part of him in the back of his mind that told him he wanted Sakuno's companionship for his own pleasure and instead tried to think of reasons she could be unhappy and how he could fix it before she took off on him like everybody else did. Exhausting himself, he unconsciously dropped his head onto Sakuno's shoulder as he indulged in a much-needed light nap.

Checking up on his backseat passengers Fuji took in the sight of the top of Echizen's hat still on Sakuno's head along with it's lip that was blocking out Sakuno's face. She was looking down at Echizen as he dosed away on her shoulder. He shook his head in wonderment at how quickly things in your life can change and then somewhat quietly said, "Sakuno-chan, I need to get to work, so I will drop you off with Echizen at his house. Is that okay with you?"

"That's fine Syusuke-kun. I doubt I can go home anyway with all those reporters there. Thanks for saving me today, by the way," Sakuno answered as she lifted her head making eye-contact with Fuji through the rear-view mirror.

"You know I'm always here for you," Fuji responded quickly.

"Yes, thank you for being such a good friend," Sakuno added.

With a shrug Fuji drove on towards Ryoma's family home choosing to keep his thoughts about friendship to himself.

Pulling up to the curb outside Ryoma's family property a few minutes later, he looked in the rear-view mirror once again and this time his eyes met with Ryoma's. The two had somehow changed positions in the past few minutes and it was now Sakuno's head, with Ryoma's hat still on it that was snuggled into his shoulder. Ryoma had an arm wrapped around her back and he was absently tracing patterns on her bare arm with his hand, just like he had that morning when he'd woken them up in Sakuno's apartment.

"Thanks," Ryoma said as Fuji turned around to hand Ryoma the car keys.

"Sakuno-chan has my number if you guys need anything else. I'll be at the hospital for a while, but I keep my phone with me for emergencies," Fuji explained. After all, he could use another adventure and he still had a match to finish with Echizen-san.

"Thanks," Ryoma said again as Sakuno stirred.

"EHH?" Sakuno exclaimed as her head shot off of Ryoma's arm. "Oh Syusuke-kun, are you leaving now?" She asked.

Fuji held back a snicker at her cuteness and gave a nod, "I'll see you later Sakuno-chan since Echizen-san and I still have a match to finish."

The three began exiting the car while Sakuno said, "Okay."

With a wave, Fuji started walking down the street.

"Oi!" Ryoma called, "Do you need a ride?"

Turning back to the couple he shook his head no and pointed at the subway sign on the opposite corner, "The hospital is only a stop away, thanks though." With another wave he jogged across the street and disappeared into the subway station.

Taking in her surroundings, Sakuno's jaw dropped in shock, "Ryoma!" She exclaimed. "Is this your house?"

"This is my ancestral family home and shrine," Ryoma replied in a monotone, bored with the topic already.

Grabbing his shirt sleeve Sakuno gave it a little tug to get his attention away from the rental car he was looking at and swept her other hand in a large gesture at the area around them.

"This is where I grew up!" She exclaimed.

_That_  got his attention.

Noticing that she had his attention she expanded excitedly, "We probably would have even gone to school together if you had grown up here since Seigaku is a big tennis school! I used to pass this temple every day. I can't believe this is your place, Ryoma! This is great!"

Ryoma took a moment to fantasize about going to school with Sakuno and her friends. It would have been kind-of great actually. He'd always stood out among his peers and school in the US had been more of a hassle than anything, but if Sakuno had been at his school...

He definitely would have impressed her so much with his tennis (because, let's be honest he impresses everybody with his tennis) that she'd have made him bentos and gone to support him in all his matches. Since her grandmother was the coach, he'd probably have spent time with her on the tennis team trips and maybe giving her private tennis lessons. Before his fantasy progressed into more intimate posibilities he gave Sakuno a knowing smirk and decided to tease her a little about school, "I would have distracted you from studying."

Sakuno's glowing smile dropped from her face, "You  _what_?"

"Then...I would have tutored you," Ryoma continued. Unperturbed by her growing irritation he grabbed the tail of one of her ponytails that had fallen from her buns when he'd put his hat on her head and curled it around his finger.

"Tutored?" Sakuno repeated as her mind spun with his possible implications. Why did she get the feeling...?

"I'd have to take care of you when your studying suffered because you were making me bentos every day instead," Ryoma continued.

Thinking she was finally understanding his meaning, Sakuno tugged her captive ponytail end out of Ryoma's hand and gave him a weird look, "I got  _good grades_  in school!"

Not missing a beat Ryoma countered, "I wasn't there to distract you."

Sakuno blinked.

Was he seriously that conceited or was he just  _messing with her_? She shook her head at him as his smirk widened.

"You would have been at all my matches, sometimes even dressed in a cute cheerleader outfit-" Ryoma was cut off before he could continue in more detail by Sakuno's hand covering his mouth.

"That's quite enough, Ryoma- _kun_ ," she hissed under her breath to him, emphasizing the -kun she would have used to address him had they gone to school together. She couldn't  _believe_  he was implying she would have not only _liked him_  had they gone to school together, but also that she would have made efforts to please him like making him lunches and going to his matches, even at the sake of her grades.

Knowing Sakuno finally understood his meaning Ryoma let out the real smile he'd been containing underneath her hand as she cutely defended herself, " _I_   _wouldn't_  have been an annoying fangirl  _if that's what you think_  - even if I _did_  decide I liked you in school, IF we went to school together!" Noticing his smug smile at her declaring liking him in school could have been a possibility, her ire increased and poking her finger into his chest she added, "So you can just forget about cheerleader Sakuno making bentos for you, you, you, conceited tennis prince!"

Taking Sakuno's hand she'd been poking him in the chest with Ryoma closed the small distance between them and gave her a brief kiss, " _You would have liked me_."

At the sweet kiss he'd just given her, Sakuno could only give him a dazed look for a moment. Somewhere in her heart she was telling herself  _it was true_ , and she wanted more kisses like that, but then reality reminded her he was just using her as his fake girlfriend and her dreamy look vanished. So the point of this whole conversation was what? With sharp eyes she said, " _Stop_  playing with me."

Instead of taking her warning seriously Ryoma smirked and pulled her into his arms, "I would have taken care of you."

Sakuno let out a frustrated huff at his insistence on what school together would have been like and pushed him away, "You're so into tennis you probably didn't even notice girls in school, let alone a nobody girl like me. Besides, there were plenty of hot tennis guys I  _did_  go to school with, and none of them ever inspired me to make bentos or dress up like a cheerleader."

Ryoma smirked again, "Of course they didn't, because you're mine."

Seriously?  _What was his deal?_  Why was he acting like this all the sudden? It was kind-of unnerving. In an attempt to get him back, Sakuno threw her arms around him and declared, " _That's right_! I'm  _yours_ , Ryoma! I've been _hopelessly in love with you_  since I was little, and there could never be another man in my life but  _you_. I'm soooo _crazy_  for you, you sexy, sexy man!"

Ryoma collected her into his arms as she finally played along with his teasing and said smugly, "That's pretty good, remember that."

Sakuno dropped her arms from him and gave him a glare as he walked around the car to get into the driver's seat and motioned for her to get in. Closing the door behind him Ryoma tapped into the navigation system's touchscreen where he wanted to go and gave the dashboard a frown wondering if his little cheerleader really did like him or not. Realizing where his thoughts were, he resisted the urge to thump his head against the steering wheel.  _Why the hell did he care if she really liked him or not?_ _Had he really just teased a girl about having a school girl crush on him?_

Damn...it had to be all this "practice" kissing going to his head.

Still standing on the curb, Sakuno took a deep breath in and out, trying to calm herself down from smacking the cocky tennis prince off of his damn throne. She couldn't believe the conversation they'd just had. It was so...strange. She still didn't know if he was serious at all or just making stuff up; there had been too many mixed signals from him. It hadn't even been 24 hours and that 'fake' boyfriend of hers was already driving her crazy. He should have come with a sign that said, 'Warning, I will play games and mess with your head, so do try to keep up!' Was that whole conversation supposed to be some kind of fake-girlfriend training? For some sort of interview or something? Did he really mean for her to pretend that she was so crazy about him that she'd been waiting her whole life for him? Why did she sign up for this job again? Oh yeah, because Ryoma - Mr. I'm-So-Sexy-and-You-Love-Me had practically  _begged_  her to save him and offered her a small fortune to do it.  _He_  had asked  _her_  though, she reminded herself. So he could play his games if he wanted, and she could play her role as the adoring girlfriend to make him look good, but at the end of the day,  _he_  needed  _her_.

Sakuno opened the passenger door and got into the car.

Ryoma gave her a slight smile.

Sakuno frowned.

Dammit all though because she  _did_  like him.


	7. Seriously?

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

Brief A/N: There's a couple of dialog lines in here I used and tweaked a little from How to Train Your Dragon. It just fit too perfectly to not use it in the situation in the story, it's unrelated to HtTYD, but I want to give proper credit.

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Chapter Seven

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"So where are we going?" Sakuno asked Ryoma as he started his rental car's engine.

She watched in fascination as his slight smirk turned down on one side into more of a frown, "We're only going to talk about this once."

"Ooo-kaay," Sakuno responded to his odd opener as he pulled the car onto the road.

He turned away from the road for a second and met eyes with her to emphasize, "We can never talk about this again."

"O-Okay, Ryoma, I get it, what is it, already? You're freaking me out," she said.

"I told Horio we were really dating," Ryoma blurted.

"You did?" Sakuno gasped. Honestly, she was surprised. Sure, she'd told him it could just be their secret, but she didn't think he'd really do it.

He was slightly irritated that she was so surprised, and that in itself was doubly irritating.  _What_ _did_ _he_ _care?_ So...she'd been his first kiss, so what? Ryoma was quiet for a minute as he thought about how much he wanted to say about making things 'real' about them.

Feeling the weight of the silence, Sakuno felt pressure to say something, "R-Ryoma, I understand. Nobody will know about our arrangement, not even Horio-kun, no problem."

They were both silent for a couple of minutes and then he reached over and took her hand into his, "I want you to be happy with me."

The butterflies she'd been experiencing around Ryoma ever since he'd first grazed his lips across her own had turned into a tornado of nervous anticipation. She had to make a conscious effort not to melt at his sweetness. How had this guy remained single? Seriously!

"So...we-we're...friends I guess, even though only we know it," Sakuno got out, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

Ryoma looked at her from the corner of his eyes. Her head was down, so his hat was blocking her expression, but she was crumpling up her sweater with her free hand.

"Heh...we're already  _more_  than friends, don't you think?"

Her head jerked up to look at him and wide brown eyes briefly met skeptical hazel ones before Ryoma's eyes flickered back to the road. He smirked. Sakuno gave a huff of irritation.

"We're going to get you a credit card," Ryoma re-opened, finally answering her initial question.

"A credit card? Whatever for?" Sakuno asked. Why'd he go and change the topic like that? She'd just have to think about that whole strange conversation later... _was he being serious about being more than friends?_

"I told you already," Ryoma responded.

Sakuno removed her hand he was holding and crossed her arms across her chest, "No, Ryoma, you didn't! What do I need a credit card for?"

"I'm taking care of you," he said, repeating his promise to her that morning.

"Well, I don't need your money," Sakuno said.

"Yeah you do," Ryoma quickly rebutted.

"No, I don't!"

"Being with me is going to be very expensive. You're getting a credit card and I don't want you to use any of your personal money again," Ryoma instructed.

"You aren't listening to me...I don't _need or want_  your money, okay? Our whole arrangement thing...just forget it because I'm not going to be some overpaid prostitute or-" Sakuno stopped her speech as Ryoma jerked the car to the side of the road and threw it into park. Swiping his hat from off her head he tossed it into the backseat as he grabbed the sides of her face and pulled her lips to his, giving her a searing, claiming kiss.

Consumed, Sakuno kissed him back, not sure what was happening anymore in this whirlwind she found herself in. Why did he always have to kiss her like that and make her forget herself?

Breaking away for a moment, Ryoma demanded lowly, "Take it back."

"What?" Sakuno panted as she tried to catch her breath; her mind floated and swirled...take what back?

He kissed her again, demanding her submission, "Tell me," he pulled her bottom lip into his mouth and sucked on it for a second, "You're my girlfriend."

Sakuno blinked at him in a daze. What? "I-I'm your girlfriend."

He kissed her again, this time less urgent and demanding, "Promise you won't leave me."

"I already promised you last night-" She stopped as he caressed the side of her face with the palm of his hand. His touch made her feel like she was the most precious thing in the universe. She closed her eyes and sighed as she rubbed her face against his palm.  _Why?_ Why did he do stuff like this?

"We're never talking about this again," Ryoma stated as he pulled back into his side of the car.

"Okay," Sakuno agreed as she blinked her eyes back open. Hell, she just didn't know what else to say if he was going to act like this over it.

She observed how he looked completely unaffected by their whole strange conversation as he put the car back into drive and joined the traffic back on the road.

_What the hell?_

Within a few minutes Ryoma was parking the car at a large building. The two got out and made their way inside, and were greeted upon entrance as if they were some kind of royalty. Sakuno felt pretty out of place, and tried to hide how impressed she was with the Swiss bank Ryoma used. After showing her I.D. and filling out some forms, she was added to Ryoma's accounts and within about half an hour they were getting back into Ryoma's rental car.

Sakuno desperately wanted to protest being added to Ryoma's personal accounts, it was as if they were married with the financial access he was giving her. Granted, she didn't know if Ryoma used banks other than the Swiss one he'd taken her to, but even still...it made her all sorts of uncomfortable, but she didn't want to make him angry by bringing the topic up that they were "never talking about again" either. So instead she found herself moping in the passenger seat as Ryoma drove them back to his house.

Arriving back at the temple, Ryoma grabbed her hand as they got out of the car getting her attention.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

Not really understanding why he would ask such a question she nodded that yes, she trusted him. Of course she trusted him!  _What kind of a question was that?_  Would she have agreed to this whole thing if she didn't? Sure she hadn't known him a long time, but there was something about Ryoma...she'd noticed it even the first time they'd talked at the coliseum, it was like talking to an old friend, or a coming home type of sensation. She didn't really understand it, but it was a deep feeling inside of her that rang of safety and happiness. Not to mention Horio would vouch for him, and she'd known Horio since middle school.

"I trust you too," he said.

Ah...well now, that just made a whole lot of sense. Ryoma definitely wasn't a big talker, well, unless he was teasing her mercilessly or barking out directions, but he did have a way of making one understand him, didn't he? Unconsciously, Sakuno gave him a glowing smile of understanding.

Ryoma looked away and caught his breath as his heart started racing out of his chest. That smile. She hadn't directed it at him yet, but he'd seen it this morning when her annoying friend had given her support of their relationship and he'd found her just as pretty and breathtaking then. It was...oh, so much more when it was directed at him though.

_Maybe she really did like him_ , at least a little bit. Something like a flame of hope came to life.

As they entered the house, Karupin came bounding up to them, and jumped into Ryoma's waiting arms before he could even kick his shoes off in the doorway. "Karupin!" Ryoma greeted the happy cat.

"Meee-roooooww!" Karupin greeted.

Sakuno quickly slipped off her shoes and moved closer to Ryoma and Karupin, "So I finally get to meet your cat!"

Ryoma nodded and held Karupin out to her, "Karupin has been my best friend since I was kid. He's getting kind-of old now, but he still manages to travel around the world with me without much complaints."

Sakuno took Karupin from Ryoma's arms, and pet him as the cat rubbed his head under Sakuno's chin, "He's a sweet kitty cat, no wonder you can't leave him behind."

"Hn."

Setting Karupin back down on the floor, Sakuno asked, "Are you hungry, Ryoma? Should I make some lunch?"

Ryoma kicked his shoes off and followed Sakuno as she wandered through the lower floor of the house, checking each room, "There's no food here yet."

"Oh that's right, you just moved in, didn't you. This place sure is clean," Sakuno commented as she rubbed her finger over a table and continued looking around.

Ryoma wondered if he should mention her grandmother was the culprit for the house being clean or not. Hmmm...

"Well, I guess I should head out to the store to get us some stuff," Sakuno said as she completed the circuit of rooms on the bottom story of the house.

"You don't want to look upstairs first?" Ryoma asked.

Sakuno gave Ryoma a suspicious look, but made her way to the stairs and ascended them anyways. She took in the beautiful bathroom at the end of the hallway, as well as the guest bedrooms, what was probably Ryoma's childhood bedroom, and what was most likely Ryoma's parent's bedroom. Ryoma followed behind, remembering more about the place as he took in each room. As Sakuno turned from the master bedroom, Ryoma blocked her exit, "So do you like our room?"

"Which room?" She asked, not bothering to get into the whole, 'your room, my room, we are having separate rooms' discussion.

Ryoma gave her a knowing look, and nodded towards the large bed in the middle of the room.

"You mean you aren't going to be in the room down the hallway that has your stuff in it?" Sakuno asked.

Ryoma gave a shrug, "If you'd rather share a smaller bed."

Sakuno put her hands on her hips, "I will have  _my_ _own_  bed."

"Yada."

Taking a deep breath, Sakuno braced herself for another fight, but before she could even open her mouth to get into it, Ryoma added, "Horio will be here."

Deflated, Sakuno dropped her hands back to her sides, "He will?"

Ryoma gave her a naughty smirk, "We'll be sleeping together from now on."

Sakuno gave a huff of dissatisfaction and pushing Ryoma out of the way, walked back into the hallway, as he snickered wickedly behind her.

"There's no need to make it sound so dirty," she scolded. He was having way too much fun with this, she just knew he was.

Wrapping an arm around her waist Ryoma stopped her at the staircase landing and whispered teasingly into her ear, "The whole world will know that you're  _my_   _lover_."

Sakuno turned bright red, " _Stop teasing me!"_

"You can't get embarrassed about it, Sakuno," Ryoma informed her as she disengaged herself from him and stomped down the stairs. Ryoma quickly followed her down. She whirled on him as she reached the base of the stairs.

"I won't be, but just STOP," she waved her hands around him frantically indicating his whole body, "This."

"You just pointed to all of me," Ryoma deadpanned as he dropped down the final step to the lower floor.

"Yes, that's it, exactly!" Sakuno exclaimed, still flushed red with embarrassment.  _His LOVER_! He'd said it!  _He'd said it!_ Sure, people would assume as much, but still...why did guys have to be...such... _perverts?_

Sakuno flipped her two long ponytails behind her shoulders just before Ryoma grabbed her around the waist and yanked her body flush up against his. Sakuno gasped as Ryoma breathed against her lips, "Get used to it."

She blinked up at him in astonishment. For a guy that never dated, he sure had a lot of demands in a girlfriend. A fake one at that! Well...at least she was pretty sure she was just his fake girlfriend. That was the agreement, right? Even if they did quite a bit of kissing when nobody else was around. It was just... _practice_...she fleetingly recalled the searing kiss he'd given her in the car on the way to the bank... _right?_

"Is that what you're trying to do?" Sakuno asked as she draped her arms over his and wrapped her hands around his biceps.

" _Don't_  talk about it."

"Stop confusing me!"

"There's nothing confusing."

Feeling stuck in the conversation, Sakuno stuck her bottom lip out in an unconscious pout, " _Why_  can't we talk about it?"

Ryoma's smirk disappeared into a frown. Why did she have to ask so many questions? "If we never talk about it, nobody will ever hear about it," he settled on in way of an explanation.

"Oh," Sakuno said dumbly. Maybe she really didn't understand what she was getting into, she reflected.

"We're  _never_  talking about it again," Ryoma reminded her.

Sakuno dropped her voice down to a whisper and asked, "Okay, but...well...what if, you know? Like you said before, what if one of us wants...you know... _out?_ "

Sakuno felt Ryoma's arms as they flexed around her body in a brief squeeze and his frown deepened, "You want out?"

"NO! I-I promised you! Just, if we can't talk about it...?"

"You promised to stay with me."

Sakuno blushed, "Yes, well I..."

"You didn't mean it?"

"I did; I do! I do...MOU! _You are frustrating me!_ "

"So what's the problem?" Ryoma asked.

"Can we just have...I don't know? A code or something?"

Ryoma rolled his eyes, "A code."

"Yes Ryoma, a code."

"Here's your code: if you don't like me anymore, just break up with me," he said with finality as he released her and walked away.

Too stunned at his words to do anything, Sakuno followed him with her eyes as he made his way over to his tennis bag that was near the entryway and put his shoes back on. Kicking his toes into his sneakers he said gruffly, "I need to get some practice in."

As Ryoma shut the door behind him, Sakuno slumped down onto the bottom staircase step. Well now, if that didn't make the top of her 'weird conversations I've had today' list she didn't know what did. Not that she hadn't had her share of weird conversations in the last 24 hours, all starting with the, "Your hair's too long," taunting she'd received at the arena before they were even properly introduced. She stared long and hard at the door as Karupin weaved in and out of her legs, meowing for attention. Sakuno absently pet Karupin for a few minutes and then stood back up.

As if she was in a trance, she set about putting her shoes back on and heading out of the house herself, resuming her original plan to go purchase some groceries for them. She didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but she did know she'd been living at Ryoma's, and she knew they needed house supplies for the upcoming week before they went to Australia.

Ryoma had left his rental car keys on the table by the door, so she'd grabbed them acknowledging somewhere in her mind she'd be getting too many groceries to carry home if she walked to the store. It was very fortunate that her new residence (for now) was in her old neighborhood, and she found herself going through the motions of choosing groceries down old familiar aisles, checking out, and dragging everything into Ryoma's house. The only strange sensation had been driving the rental car, but even that barely registered to her as her mind continued to swirl in confusion. It had been a strange day. She'd been a simple girl with a ramen focus and now, oh...well now she was the girlfriend of the world tennis champion. A super hot one at that, whom was determined to drive her crazy with kisses and touches and mixed signals. He wanted to give her access to his fortune, and oh she was living with him and sleeping with him from now on.

...Seriously?

She'd heard about people's lives changing overnight, but she still felt like this was really extreme. What was really throwing her emotions onto a seesaw though was the physical intimacy she'd never experienced before. Maybe it would have been one thing to be a "fake" girlfriend if you'd had boyfriends in the past, but for her...everything was new and made her feel all sorts of well...feelings.

Kissing...was amazing.

And scary. It was so scary because it made her like Ryoma. She'd liked him as a person before the kissing, in their limited acquaintance that is, and she'd noted her attraction to him on some level before the kissing had happened, but OH...it really made her like him. She'd WANTED to kiss him. She'd WANTED him to kiss her. She still did. She'd never had an interest in a guy before and she'd NEVER wanted to or thought about kissing before.

There was just something about Ryoma.

Ryoma was doing a good job of spinning her already confused emotions out of control too, the way he talked to her...wow...just wow...she honestly didn't know what to make of it. There was this part of her in her heart that simply responded to him. To everything he did, every word he said, every look, every touch, every kiss...and then there was her mind that kept beating her over the head and reminding her - THIS IS FAKE. This is an illusion...DON'T FALL IN LOVE.

She was very much in danger of falling in love though and she didn't know how to get off of this roller coaster.

Hell...she didn't know if she  _wanted_  to...there could only be one Ryoma. She'd never get a guy like him again. She wondered if she'd ever even  _meet_  another guy that got her interest the way he did (and so effortlessly) again. Even if she did...what's to say he'd have any interest in her?

Though...how would she ever know if Ryoma's interest was real?

Still...there was this part of her, this tiny little voice inside of her that was telling her that something in all this was real for him.

She suspected it was also the kissing. She didn't know much about how guy's thought, especially not guys like Ryoma, but she knew one thing for sure.

He'd never kissed anybody before either.

She'd heard first kisses weren't as big of a deal to guys, she didn't believe it...and she especially didn't believe it when referring to a guy that was 22 years old and had never had a girlfriend or kissed anybody before.

Oh yes, there was this tiny little part of her that was telling her...oh...this must surely mean something to him too.

After all...they'd done plenty of practice kissing to account for any and all public performances needed to convince any doubters that they were a couple. Still...he kept kissing her. He kept kissing her and touching her, and dammit all he hadn't even presented the first kiss as practice until after he'd already done it and was looking at her with those surprised eyes, fumbling for words, gasping for breath. Sure...her mind had been equally floating with the new sensation, but that look...that look had been real...right?

After unloading all the groceries and adding touches here and there in the home that showed clearly it was being lived in again, Sakuno took a plastic glass out of the cupboard, filled it with ice and poured a grape flavored ponta into it all the way to the top. Shaking the can to see if it was empty, she felt a small amount was left over, so she took a sip from off the top of the cooling soda that was poured over the ice, and emptied the rest of the can into the glass. She smiled at the glass and then headed back to the door, put her shoes on once again and made her way up the steps to the temple area where she could hear the familiar thwack of a tennis ball being consistently hit against a wall. Cresting the hill, the area opened up to a large, beautiful tennis court, surrounded by the temple's outer walls. There were even benches along the sides of the court, and Sakuno smiled in awe of Ryoma's family home property once again.

Conscious of Sakuno's presence, Ryoma caught the ball with his racquet and changed it to bounce slower against his racquet a couple of times before he caught it with his hand and stuffed it into his pocket. He glared at the wall for a second.

Having a girlfriend was...complicated.

He was pleasantly surprised when he turned around to see Sakuno smiling at him with a tall glass of something cool and refreshing...please let it be ponta, please, please be ponta in her hand.

"I brought you some ponta," Sakuno said.

Oh, he just might be in love with this girl. Ponta! How did she know? Ryoma stifled a smile and jogged over to take the glass from her hand. He gulped down about half of it, "Thanks."

Quickly drinking down the rest of it to keep his mouth otherwise occupied, dammit, but the girl's presence was intoxicating to him. All he could think about when they were together was kissing her. He just wanted to grab her and pull her closer and touch her and smell her and just immerse himself in the pleasures he'd recently become aware of that came with having a cute girlfriend. It was definitely making him crazy. Why'd he have to go and meet the one female he found completely irresistible? Hell, even yesterday afternoon she'd distracted him from going out to the court to play his match! The girl was a walking disaster for him and he just couldn't help himself! He asked her to be his girlfriend, gone so low as to bribe her with money to get her to agree, and then, AND THEN...oh he'd just couldn't help himself any longer and he'd kissed her and just ruined himself possibly forever.

It was disgusting, he hadn't even known the girl for 24 hours and he already felt whipped.

In a world where girls were nothing but annoying and something to be put off for dealing with in the future she had just come in and taken him for a ride of a lifetime and he didn't even know where the hell it was going.

"Do you want to take a break and eat something?" She asked as she put her arms behind her back and swayed from side to side, waiting for him to answer.

Don't kiss her. Don't kiss her. Don't do it! "Sure," He said as he put his racquet back in his bag and slung the bag over his shoulder to carry it back down to the house.

He followed Sakuno as she wobbled her way down the steps and idly wondered how a girl with such wobbly hips had ever managed to take up a sport like tennis. Hadn't she said she'd been on the girl's team in school? Was that even _possible_? How did she manage not to fall down? Especially with that long hair? His hand itched to grab one of her long ponytails as it bounced behind her and he found himself gripping the edge of his backpack to prevent himself from yanking on it like a 5 year old with a crush. Don't touch her, he reminded himself. Don't touch, don't touch, NO TOUCHING.

"Your hair's too long," He finally complained.

Sakuno stopped and whipped her head around, her ponytails flying out around her at her quick turn.

Ryoma, unprepared for the stop of momentum, probably from being distracted by her hair dropped onto the step she was on and then berated himself for getting so damn close to her AGAIN. STUPID! Don't touch her, don't touch, don't touch.

He watched her mouth in fascination as she opened it up to take in a deep breath NOOOOOOOOO and the next thing he knew, he was tasting grape ponta and cherry chapstick, and wrapping one of her ponytails around his hand behind her back, using it as leverage to pull her head down more, and delve deeper. He could feel his blood pounding in his ears and wondered at the sensation yet again. Nothing was like this. Nothing. Even a great tennis match didn't give him this...this...feeling. It was like...drowning, he felt like he couldn't breathe, but in a good way, and then he was pulling away, taking a deep breath and she was looking up at him with those eyes filled with questions. Questions he didn't have answers to. Hell, he didn't know what was happening with them either.

Releasing her hair from his grip, he forced himself to drop down to the next step, "Come on." He forced himself not to look back and just finish walking down the stairs back to the house.


	8. Mada Mada Dane

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Eight

* * *

They ate a fairly hearty lunch since they'd both been too busy all day to eat anything yet, and afterwards they both fell into a lethargic mood.

"I'm going to take a nap," Sakuno announced as she made her way up the stairs towards their room.

Loving the idea, Ryoma followed, and thankfully Sakuno didn't protest. Maybe she was simply too tired to put up a fight.

As Sakuno entered the bedroom, she flopped unceremoniously onto the bed facedown and groaned, "I'm so exhausted!"

"Hn," Ryoma agreed as he threw his legs up and hopped onto the bed next to her, landing on his butt on the soft mattress. Letting his head drop onto the pillows against the headboard, he put his hands behind his head, and within seconds, his eyes were closed.

Sakuno lifted up her head and took in the sight of Ryoma resting for a second before she rolled onto her side and curled up under his shoulder. She let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes.

* * *

At Tomoka's apartment there was chaos and bickering pretty much non-stop. First it had started with Satoshi coming home last night. They'd fought, made up, fought some more, made up some more, napped lightly, woken up to Ryoma-sama's crises with the paparazzi, hung out at Sakuno's (with more shocks) for a little while, and then gone right back to fighting and making up. As they'd finally exhausted themselves and tried to take yet another nap, Sakuno had called looking for help yet again with the paparazzi. After that, Satoshi had been doing nothing but barking orders at her. They'd been running around between the two apartments gathering things and trying to make preparations ever since.

Tomoka was building up to starting another fight with him. It had been ages since she'd seen him, and even now that he was back 'probably for at least a year or so' his world was still revolving around his job with Ryoma-sama, not her. GRRRR. She fumed to herself as she went through Sakuno's apartment collecting together the many things she felt her friend would want while she was stuck staying at Ryoma-sama's house. She was pretty sure that sometime this week, probably tomorrow she'd be taking Sakuno out to get a make-over fit for a girl about to be on the cover of every gossip magazine in the world. Sakuno needed to be prepared and look her best. She didn't know it yet, but being the simple girl that she was (which was definitely one of the many reasons Tomoka loved her so much) she wouldn't think about those types of things. Tomoka, however, would always look out for her friend and this was just one of those things that she would need to simply make happen for her friend to survive the coming onslaught.

Hoping they were finally done, Tomoka dragged the final suitcase she'd packed up back to her own apartment where Satoshi was waiting. He was surrounded by bags and suitcases in Tomoka's apartment entryway.

"This is too much stuff, we're going to give it away that we're moving her out of the building," he stated.

Tomoka fought down the urge she had to grab the orange sitting on her counter and lob it towards his head.

"They'll follow us, and then Echizen's place won't be safe to stay at either," he gave a frustrated sigh, "I think we need to cut it down to really basic stuff that you'll be able to stuff in your purse."

Tomoka crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a death glare. He held his hands up in surrender, "Tomoka, I'm sorry you worked so hard on this, but I didn't think it through! As it is, I'm going to have to disguise myself since I'm recognized as Echizen's manager. If we leave carrying big bags and suitcases it will be a dead giveaway."

"Why can't we just get  _a_ _helicopter_  to pick us up too?" She asked, her sarcasm practically oozing out of her mouth.

* * *

Ryoma drifted awake from his afternoon nap, slowly becoming aware of his surroundings and company. Oh yes, he wasn't used to it yet, but this made two times in a row he'd had the pleasure of waking up to Sakuno snuggled into his side and he knew there was more of it to come. Imaging it becoming a part of his normal life almost sent his head swimming with a completely foreign all-encompassing emotion. No, he couldn't think about that; it made him feel crazy. Rolling slightly to the side he brushed through one of her long ponytails with his hand, idly wondering what this new dating world would be like.

When would the world at large realize he was a normal guy? That did, in fact, have a normal girlfriend? How soon would the press leave them alone? Would they pick on Sakuno a lot or would they love her? What were his fans going to think? How long would Sakuno be able to put up with his lifestyle?  _Why'd he have to go and meet her now?_ Was now actually a good time for  _this_? Whatever ' _this_ ' was...what...was...

His hand paused and his fingers dug deeper into Sakuno's soft chestnut waves as he glared towards their bedroom door.

Standing in the doorway, looking only slightly abashed stood his annoying manager Horio and his annoying girlfriend.

"We're...uh...here...Echizen," Horio said in a loud whisper.

He blinked slowly in way of acknowledgement, hoping Horio got the message to  _be_ _quiet_. If they woke up Sakuno and ruined this peaceful time, so help him...

Horio gave a frustrated huff, "Well, we brought over some of Ryuzaki's stuff."

Sakuno stirred for a second and then rubbed her face into Ryoma's side and resettled.

"AWWWWWWWW!" Tomoka gushed.

Ryoma watched in dismay as Sakuno's eyes blinked open, took a moment to take him in, (her expression remaining frustratingly blank) before she tipped her head up to the side and noticed the presence of her friends. His fingers slid through her hair at her movement and suddenly feeling embarrassed, Ryoma removed his hand and glared at Horio's girlfriend.

"Horio-kun, Tomo-chan! When did you get here?" She asked.

"Just a few minutes ago," Tomoka answered before she began to gush enthusiastically about Sakuno living at Ryoma-sama's beautiful big temple.

Resigned to naptime being completely over, Ryoma rolled off the bed onto his feet and made his way to their ensuite bathroom to freshen up.

As the bathroom door closed, Horio stepped into the bedroom and said lowly to Sakuno, "So, how's he doing?" As he nodded his head in the direction of said door.

Sakuno glanced in the direction of their private bathroom and then turned back to her friends and shrugged, "Good, I guess. After we got here, he practiced some on the court while I went and bought some food, we had lunch, and then we took a nap."

"No more paparazzi problems then?" Horio pressed.

Sakuno shook her head no, "No, nothing since he picked me up at work, but Horio-kun, you should probably know, I think they got pictures of us kissing when we were leaving."

"They  _WHAT_?" Horio exploded as Tomoka cooed and awed in approval in the background.

Suddenly feeling embarrassed, Sakuno flushed red and tried to explain, "Well...y-you see...we were about to get into the car, and they were running up the street towards us, but b-before we got in the car...," Sakuno paused as she looked down at the mattress and took a deep calming breath. Ryoma had said  _not_  to be embarrassed and she'd _promised_  him she wouldn't. These were her friends, they knew they were 'together,' so there was nothing to be embarrassed about.  _She was messing up_! No more stuttering and blushing she reprimanded herself. That's right, there's nothing to be embarrassed about here...she needed to just assert herself, right? Assert...assert.

Sakuno jerked her chin up in defiance and looking Horio right in the eye she said, "Honestly, Horio-kun, what's wrong with him kissing me? I'm his girlfriend. I don't know why you're giving me hard time about it."

Taken aback, Horio's jaw dropped open in shock. A moment later, his eyes narrowed knowingly and he leaned over Sakuno and wagged his finger at her, "Oh,  _you're surprisingly good_ , Ryuzaki."

Understanding his meaning completely, Sakuno fumed in frustration inside at being caught, but choose to ignore his bait and instead continued their charade by giving a nonchalant shrug, "I don't know what you're trying to say, but  _I don't think I would like it_."

"Wouldn't like what?" Ryoma asked as he heard the tail end of Sakuno's comment while exiting the bathroom.

Snapping his arm behind his back Horio straightened up and took a step back towards the bedroom doorway, "Nothing, Echizen."

Ryoma crossed his arms across his chest and gave Horio a blank look that in Ryoma-language obviously meant something like, 'You better tell me what it was, and if you were harassing my girlfriend you will receive pain.'

Horio took a minute to process how quickly Echizen's loyalties had been bestowed on his old friend Ryuzaki, and realized trying to get them to admit anything would be a losing battle. He gave a shrug as he walked out of the room, "C'mon Tomoka."

"Satoooooshiiiiii! I wanted to make shopping plans with Sakuno for tomorrrrrrrrooooooow!" Tomoka whined as she was tugged along.

Sakuno stood up from the bed and swept her escaped baby hairs back from her face giving Ryoma a sheepish smile, "Did you have a good nap?"

Ryoma uncrossed his arms and made his way across the room heading towards the bedroom door, "It was alright."

Sakuno gave Ryoma a wavy smile of uncertainty as she brushed her hands down her sweater to straighten it out and passed him as she made her way to the bathroom.

"I..." Ryoma began and Sakuno stopped in her tracks and turned back towards him.

"I'm going back up the hill to play some tennis."

"Okay, I'll let you know when dinner is ready," Sakuno replied, she turned back around and started walking towards the ensuite bathroom again.

Ryoma grimaced. It was really nice that she was acting all  _wife-like_  taking care of his house and making meals and stuff, but what he really wanted was...

"Horio's going to pick up dinner," he said.

Sakuno spun around again, her arms flailing about in wide arcs as she exclaimed, "Well, that's just silly when you guys have me around! I'm a cook,  _remember_? I'll just go talk to Horio-kun, and-"

"Come up the hill with me," Ryoma interrupted.

Sakuno stopped and gaped at him. They stood there in silence as the seconds ticked by, Sakuno giving Ryoma a started look, Ryoma giving her a determined one.

"Eh..." Sakuno finally broke the silence.

"You used to play, right?"

"Well, yeah, I was a regular on the girl's team, but it's been a few years..." Sakuno was positive he wasn't asking what she thought he was. There was just no way, right? Ryoma was a professional tennis player. He was the best tennis player in the world. Right? There was simply no way Echizen Ryoma would...

"Then why not teach me some tennis?" Ryoma asked with a smirk.

Sakuno crossed her arms across her breasts and gave the world tennis champion a glare as she accused, "Don't make fun of me!"

Ryoma's smirk widened, "I'm serious."

She stomped one foot on the floor as she uncrossed her arms and made fists at her sides, frustrated beyond all reason at his cocky manner, "Mou! It's not funny  _Mr._ _Tennis_ _Prince_!"

Ryoma closed the distance between them and took both of Sakuno's balled up fists into his hands. As he lifted them towards his face her anger left her, and she watched in stunned amazement as he kissed each palm, " _I want to play tennis with my girlfriend_."

Sakuno gave him a dazed stare.

Woah,  _did that just happen_? She processed for a moment and then blinked as she regained her senses, "I-I don't have my tennis clothes or my racquet."

"I have extra clothes and racquets."

Sakuno removed her hands from Ryoma's and taking a couple of steps back she gave him an exaggerated head to toe glance and then with a teasing smile said, "Oh yes, I will  _definitely_  fit your clothes!"

She giggled in relief.

He frowned, realizing she had a point since she was a small woman and he wasn't a large man by any means, but she'd probably be swimming in any of his clothes.

Damn.

"Oh! I remember!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of their bedroom and towards his childhood room. Sakuno allowed him to drag her, as she unenthusiastically followed.

She couldn't believe how insistent he was being about this.

Entering the smaller bedroom Ryoma marched them towards the dresser and yanked open the top drawer where a few shorts and shirts lay. They'd probably been untouched in 10 years, they still looked brand new.

Sakuno grabbed a red and white shirt off the top of the pile and held it up to her small frame, "Did you ever actually wear these clothes? They look like they're still new."

"A few times when we came to Japan for visits," Ryoma answered as he grabbed a pair of black shorts and handed them to her. He headed out the bedroom door and closed it behind him, leaving her to change in privacy.

Sakuno shook her head in wonderment and obediently changed into his old tennis outfit. She folded her jeans, blouse and sweater neatly into a little pile on Ryoma's old bed and then checked her appearance in the mirror. Ugh...these clothes made her feel like a boy! They were slightly musty from not being used in years, and she could swear she smelled Ryoma on them as well. It was faint, but he HAD apparently worn them at some time in the past. It almost made her want to sniff them just to smell him. There was something kind of cool and intimate about wearing his clothes, and oh...they were his childhood clothes too! She thought about how cute he must have been at twelve or thirteen when he'd probably last worn them and let out a little fangirl-y giggle.

She was comforted that at least she had her sneakers for work so shoes weren't going to be an issue. She'd hate to see Ryoma's solution to having no tennis shoes. She rolled her socked toes into the plush carpet just thinking about it. _Impatient guy_. If he was going to insist on playing tennis with her, couldn't he have waited until tomorrow so she could get some appropriate clothes? She glanced out the window at the sun getting lower on the horizon and realized whatever Ryoma had in mind couldn't be for too long since it would be nighttime soon enough. It was January after all, and the days were cold and short. She gave a shiver as she thought about going outside in just the shirt and shorts she was wearing. She opened the closet and to her delight found a red zip-up jacket hanging inside. Pulling it off the hanger, she put it on, yanking her long ponytails out from under it and gave the mirror a satisfied look thinking that was as good as it was going to get.

She opened the door and almost ran into Ryoma.

"Nice jacket," he deadpanned.

"Thanks," Sakuno gave him a grin.

He rolled his eyes and motioned for her to follow him.

Sakuno shook her head no, "I still need to go to the bathroom, I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes."

Ryoma gave a wave as he bounded down the stairs and Sakuno made her way to the hall bathroom.


	9. Learning Curve

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Nine

* * *

At the top of the temple grounds on the tennis court, Ryoma observed Sakuno as she did a few stretches after running up the temple steps. It was actually kind-of impressive to him how she improvised a warm-up by running up the steps. He was actually kind-of thinking maybe he should start doing that himself every time he came up to the court. It was strange really, Sakuno was small, soft, wobbly and with hair that was seriously too long, but somehow she managed to keep shocking him with these surprising displays of actual athleticism. He was still kind-of expecting her to really suck at tennis. Honestly, wobbly hips and long hair just weren't going to cut it, right?

Lost in his thoughts, Ryoma didn't even realize immediately that Sakuno had finished stretching, made her way over to him to get a racquet, and when one hadn't been produced started waving her hand in front of his face to get his attention.

"Ryoma! The sun is going to set soon, so if we're going to do this, we need to get started," Sakuno expressed, finally snapping the star athlete out of his musings.

With a grunt of irritation Ryoma dug through his tennis bag and produced one of his spares. It was a duplicate of his primary racquet, same color and everything...just not as broken in.

Sakuno took the racquet from him and headed to the court's baseline. She gave the air a few swings and adjusted her grip. Ryoma bounced a couple of balls to her, which she effortlessly caught. Pushing one of them into her pocket, she bounced the other one a few times against the ground as she got a better feel for the racquet.

"Let's just volley a bit," Ryoma said as he ambled to the opposite side of the court.

"Sounds good," Sakuno said before tossing the ball up in the air and sending a fast serve across the court towards Ryoma.

_Not bad._

They volleyed for half hour or so before Sakuno, who was getting kind of bored of their hadn't-even-broken-a-sweat-yet friendly volley called over to Ryoma as she thwacked the ball once again over to his side of the court, "Show me something  _really good_!"

Ryoma gave her a smirk as he effortlessly returned the ball back to Sakuno's side of the court, forcing her to quickstep a bit to the right to return it back. Still, she was pretty good at the basics, and so long as Ryoma sent the ball in her  _general_  direction she was able to return it back to him. Not really the wobbly mess he'd imagined she would be, but she had told him she'd played in school, so he shouldn't have been too surprised at her abilities. He caught the ball with his racquet and tossed it into the air before catching it in his left hand. He moved back behind the baseline of his side of the court.

"When I tell you to jump, you need to jump quickly to the right," Ryoma instructed.

"What? Why?" Sakuno asked.

Instead of answering her question, he tossed the ball above his head, jumped and stuck it with force. It sped across the net, hit the ground and as he called out, "JUMP!" spun in the opposite direction it had been traveling in. Sakuno watched as it flew up from the ground to where her face had been a second before she'd jumped out of the way.

"Wow!" Sakuno exclaimed in shock as she turned to watch the ball harmlessly bounce away. She'd been sure she was jumping directly into it's path when Ryoma had told her to jump, but she'd followed his directions anyway only to see it spin in the opposite direction after hitting the ground. Oh... _he was good all right_.

Ryoma stamped down his pleasure at seeing her so impressed.  _It's just my twist serve_ , he reminded himself. He'd been using the move since he'd been in elementary school, it was not a big deal. It was just...showing off for her...oh... _this was bad -_  it could easily get way too addicting. He slipped out a bit of a self-satisfied grin as she began to wax enthusiastic over his serve and made a conscious effort not to brag. Damn if she didn't bring it out in him though...suddenly, he wanted to show off all his special moves and switch over to using his left hand so she could really see his power. Heh...

"Can you teach me how to do that?" She asked as she ended her effusions over how awesome his twist serve was.

Well,  _that_  could get interesting. Ryoma took a few minutes to fantasize about holding her from behind as he went through the motions of doing the serve, smelling her hair as she got frustrated with the intricacies of the grip and the wrist movement needed to force the ball to spin upon impact. Licking the skin on her neck he would change his hold from her arm to her waist, wrapping himself around her completely as she would lean into him and-

"Ryoma?"

"Sure," He answered as he snapped out of his fantasy and made his way to her side of the court. Standing together at the baseline Ryoma faced Sakuno and switched his racquet from his right hand into his left while instructing, "Mirror my movements."

Sakuno watched fascinated as Ryoma did an even better twist serve than the first one he'd shown her, and left-handed to boot! Her eyes wide, and her mouth dropped open slightly in astonishment, she watched the ball bounce around on the other side of the court dumbfounded.

"You didn't mirror me," Ryoma observed.

"I think that was better that the first one!" She exclaimed.

Ryoma gave her a strange look, "You don't know  _anything_  do you?"

Sakuno blushed, "I told you I only played in school, there's no need to be so mean about it, Mr. Tennis Pro."

Ryoma let out an amused huff, and shaking his head back and forth chided, "Mada mada dane...my girlfriend should definitely know that I'm left-handed."

Once again Sakuno's jaw dropped in shock, "Ryoma is left-handed?" All this time he'd been playing with his right-hand, she couldn't believe how well he played with his non-dominant hand, and her mind spun in realization at how fearsome Ryoma really must be on the tennis court.

He grabbed her chin and closed her mouth, "I thought you knew."

"How would I have known that?" Sakuno exclaimed as she batted his hand away in irritation.

Ryoma gave her another strange look, "Are you  _sure_  you like tennis?"

Sakuno rolled her eyes as she finally figured out what he was trying to say, "My life has been pretty much nothing but ramen for a few years, so forgive me if I'm not up to date on the stats of the world tennis champ and the sexist man alive list."

"This is going to be more work."

"What?"

"We have six days before we go to Australia. We need to learn as much as possible about each other until then, otherwise the paparazzi are going to eat you alive," Ryoma informed her.

"Is it really that big of a deal if I don't know every detail about your life?"

Ryoma shook his head, "There are some things people will assume you will know about me, because everybody knows them." He wiggled the fingers of his left hand to emphasize his point.

Wow. This guy sure thought the world revolved around him, didn't he? Sakuno gave a huff of slight irritation at his arrogance.

"Listen, we can't be a new couple, the paparazzi won't leave us alone. Though if we say we've been seriously dating for some time...then," He paused and then changed tack, "Don't you think we  _should_  know stuff about each other?"

Sakuno begrudgingly agreed, "I suppose it will depend on how long we say we've been dating."

He took a step closer still to her, and pressed his right-hand lightly to the front of her waist before slowly sliding his hand around her and taking the last step between them. His right arm now engulfed her small frame as he commented, "If we say too long of a time they'll start to ask when we'll be getting married."

Sakuno's breath hitched as he rubbed the bottom of his jaw against her temple when he said 'married.'  _Why was he touching her_? It was making her stomach butterflies come out again, and she felt like she might combust at any second, "How long do people date before they...get married?"

"The hell if I know," he scoffed.

She giggled and rested her head on his shoulder, falling a bit into his light embrace a bit further, "We can Google it later."

She felt his chest shake a bit showing he was amused at her comment even though he made no sound, but somehow it made her glow with happiness. She didn't think she'd ever felt so close and connected with anybody in all her life. How was that even possible? She barely knew Echizen Ryoma and half the time she was in his presence he was making her crazy by going out of his way to irritate her. It was just that...just that...the other half of the time he was touching her and talking to her and drawing her into his world, connecting her into himself so much so that she didn't know if she'd ever be able to disconnect her thoughts from him...and that... _scared her to death_.

She took a step back and gave him a half smile, "So, how about that twist serve lesson?"

His eyes narrowed in suspicion, "So you know it's a twist serve."

Sakuno shook her head, "I know tennis. Even if I don't know  _your_  tennis... _yet_."

"Hn," He acknowledged before digging another ball from his pocket to show her again.

This time, Sakuno tried to mimic his movements as he went through them slowly. They went through the motions several times and Sakuno tried desperately not to get frustrated with her lack of improvement.

The sun dropped out of the sky and put them into twilight so Ryoma grabbed his spare racquet from Sakuno's grip, "Let's clean up; we can pick up where we left off tomorrow."

"All right," Sakuno agreed as she held back a pout and jogged to the other side of the court to retrieve the tennis balls. She quickly picked them up and met back with Ryoma who'd finished putting his racquets into his large tennis bag. She placed the balls back into their tubes as Ryoma put the caps on the tubes and stuffed them back into his bag.

"Learning the twist serve takes a long time," Ryoma said by way of encouragement.

Sakuno was startled by his comment, she'd been expecting more 'mada mada dane' from him, if anything, "Do you think I'll really be able to do it?"

Ryoma gave a nod, "You have me to teach you, don't you?"

Sakuno giggled and knocked the brim of his white hat down over his face, "Yes, sensei!"

He took his hat off and stuffed it into his bag, and zipped it up. Running a hand through his hair to resettle it he picked up his bag, slung it over one shoulder and gave Sakuno a knowing look as he took her hand.

"It felt good to be playing tennis again," she mused.

"You're... _not bad_ ," He said as they started walking down the steps back towards the house.

"For a girl?" She added, feeling he was just saying it to be nice and needing to add in some kind of 'but' statement for him.

He gave a smug half-smile and grunted something resembling agreement.

They reached the bottom of the temple steps and made their way back into the house, dropping their shoes off in the entryway they were met by Horio and Tomoka.

"Did you have fun?" Tomoka asked as she gestured for them to follow into the dining room.

Sakuno pealed off Ryoma's old red jacket and hung it in the entryway closet before chasing after her friends, "Ryoma is teaching me how to do a twist serve."

"Really? That's awesome!" Tomoka replied as Horio began a spiel about his many years of tennis experience which the rest of the party pointedly ignored. After all, they had all heard it all before.

Arriving at the dining room table with a modest spread of take-out food Horio and Tomoka had arranged for them, the four friends sat and began eating their meal.

"Why doesn't the temple have a kotatsu, Echizen?" Horio asked as they were finishing up.

Ryoma looked down at the dining table, then glanced around the parts of the lower floor of the house within view. He gave a shrug as he took a sip of ponta, "We can get one."

Sakuno smiled, Tomoka clapped her hands together in glee, and Horio began bragging about how he would turn the house into a real Japanese home.

Ryoma clanked his empty ponta can down on the table, "There are plenty of real Japanese homes without kotatsu because they have better heating methods."

Understanding that Ryoma was offended at Horio's comments Sakuno put a consoling hand over his arm, "I think the central heating is wonderful, the whole house feels warm."

Ryoma gave Sakuno a skeptical look while Tomoka chided Horio for upsetting 'Ryoma-sama,' and Horio simply continued to give Ryoma a hard time about the house.

"I'll get you a kotatsu," Ryoma whispered to Sakuno.

Sakuno shook her head, "I don't need one."

Ryoma's eyes thinned into slits as he tried to read Sakuno's mind and veil his own thoughts. There was going to be no winning on this one, was there? Horio was determined to be insulting, and Sakuno was determined to be comfortable. His brow flexed in unspoken frustration. There had to be something else, something he was forgetting, something...his mind searched through the foggy depths of the small amount of time spent in the house in his childhood. Finally a long forgotten memory drifted to the surface...

Ryoma shot from his chair and stomped into the family room.

The rest of the group quickly followed, curious over what had caused Ryoma to shoot out of his chair like that and hurry into the next room.

Bending down Ryoma grabbed one side of the low coffee table and lifted it up on it's side to look underneath. There it was! They had a kotatsu after all, they just rarely used it since they didn't need it. But there had been that one time he'd been sick and his mom had settled him up against the side of the couch under the table with warm blankets, tissues and TV to watch all day. He hadn't really realized it at the time, but after spending the night last night under part of Sakuno's kotatsu the memory had come into clarity that their coffee table probably did have a heater under it as well.

He gave a triumphant look to his house guests. Horio's girlfriend was harping on Horio again about his rude comments while gesturing towards the table, and Sakuno was giving him a look that made him wonder if she was also thinking about last night. His chest gave a thump in response and he almost dropped the table. Quickly looking away from her, he settled the table back on the floor.

Damn.

"Now that we all know there's a kotatsu in the house, I'm going to bed," he announced. Come on Sakuno, he thought, hoping somehow she'd read his mind as she seemed to do fairly well at it. Come on. Come on. Come on. He chanted to her in his mind as he passed his friends and started making his way upstairs.

Reaching the landing, he went around the corner to the master bedroom and by the time he'd entered the room, Sakuno was right there, coming in behind him. She must have ran up the stairs, he figured. As he headed over to his suitcase to find something to sleep in, (he usually preferred to sleep in just his underwear, if that) he realized Sakuno was still in his old clothes and didn't have anything of her own there besides what she'd worn to work in the morning. He grabbed one of his large t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants from his suitcase and tossing the sweats over his shoulder, he walked over to Sakuno who was rummaging through the small bag of her things Tomoka had brought over.

She was pouting into the bag as she pulled out a small pair of striped pink panties and a toothbrush.

Ryoma stared at the small pink clothing article in her hand in fascination for a minute before he wordlessly handed Sakuno his t-shirt.

"I guess Tomo-chan couldn't bring much of my stuff," Sakuno commented, more to herself it seemed than to Ryoma.

"Hn," Ryoma agreed distractedly as he sat on the bed to take his socks off and then standing back up again, began changing for bed by taking his shirt off over his head.

Sakuno scuttled into their master bathroom and changed into his t-shirt (which thankfully was so big on her small frame it covered her adequately enough) and brushed her teeth. As she reopened the bathroom door, Ryoma went in and brushed his teeth. Sakuno stood in front of the floor length mirror that covered the majority of the walk-in closet's door and took her ponytails down, combing her fingers through her loose hair and rubbing her scalp to work out the tight feeling of having one's hair confined into ponytails all day long.

Ryoma flipped the bathroom's light off as he left the bathroom and took in Sakuno's flowing long locks and barely covered bum as she massaged her scalp with her hands.

And then...suddenly it was like they were an old married couple that had been preparing for bed together their whole lives and they seamlessly went through all the motions. Sakuno flipped off the light switch by the bedroom door and closed the door while Ryoma switched on one of the nightstand table lamps and turned down the covers. Sakuno went to her side of the bed and snuggled into the covers as Ryoma climbed into his side and turned off the nightstand's light.

As they both settled, they realized how effortlessly the whole getting ready and into bed process had gone and in a moment they had both flipped onto their sides facing each other in the dark room. Sakuno reached her hand out and connected with Ryoma's face as she let out a nervous giggle, Ryoma grunted at being unintentionally hit in the face and steadied her hand by taking it into both of his own as their eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"We did good," Sakuno whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Ryoma asked back in a lowered voice.

Sakuno giggled again and made little kicks up and down her legs with her feet, "I don't know, it just feels like we should be whispering."

"Heh."

Her face was finally starting to become visible as his eyes adjusted their night vision. He could tell it must have been the same for Sakuno as their eyes locked, "I see you," she whispered around a giggle.

"Are you nervous?"

"What? N-No! Why would you ask me that?" More giggling.

"You keep giggling," he offered.

She snickered into her hand and then froze as he wrapped one of his hands into her hair at the back of her head and rubbed her waves through his fingers.

She audibly swallowed as she leaned her head back into his hand, enjoying the feel of his fingers as they moved to massage her scalp. She took a quick breath and then licked her lips and a second later, Ryoma's lips had once again claimed her own.

Fluidly, as if they'd been kissing and touching each other in bed their whole lives, they came closer together. Sakuno rubbed her hands over his chest while Ryoma's hand dropped to her hip, just below where his shirt was covering her and rubbed small circles over her bare thigh.

Somewhere in the back of Sakuno's mind she registered this couldn't really be more "practice" as they'd used for their safety excuse for making out. Somewhere further than that she knew this was more intimate than her floor the night before. Somewhere in the far back around the corner from there she was telling herself this was  _crazy_ , this was  _madness_ , this road could only lead to hurt and heartbreak and oh...somewhere in the front of her mind, she was caught up in the romance of the moment and there in the front of her mind _she just didn't care_  what it all meant.


	10. Shopping

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Ten

* * *

For the second morning in a row, Sakuno was roused from sleep earlier than usual. This time instead of being awoken by a yelling Syusuke-kun it was Tomo-chan whom was knocking on their bedroom door, while singing about getting up for a big day of shopping.

Sakuno bit back a moan of frustration as she rolled to her back and opened her eyes. She was about to throw the covers off when a heavy, bare, male arm pinned her to the bed, "Ignore her."

Sakuno's heart started beating wildly in her chest as she once again realized this new life of hers wasn't some crazy dream, but she really was in bed with the current Sexiest Man Alive. She rolled her eyes to the side and made out a tuft of Ryoma's greenish black hair poking out over the top of their comforter as he pulled his arm and squeezed her towards him to cuddle.

Unconsciously, she held her breath. Oh. Oh. _Oh._  Somehow his shirt she'd been sleeping in had hiked its way up her torso during the night and she'd just realized Ryoma's bare arm was squeezing her bare midsection. Oh, he could just reach down and touch her panties at any second, her mind began to frantically panic. This was way too intimate too soon. Wait. Who even said intimate would be okay?  _Gah_!

Tomoka was  _right_! She needed to go shopping! She needed pajamas, and clothes, and oh...she needed something to keep her from falling in love with this man and breaking her heart in the process. How was she ever supposed to do that when they were always together and all this...this... _kissing_  Ryoma kept instigating and how it made her melt inside and how much she liked kissing him. It HAD to be a bad thing, right? She wasn't supposed to really like him, she wasn't supposed to feel her heart jump and thump and beat faster whenever he looked her way. She wasn't supposed to have a brain meltdown every time he touched her, or kissed her. Why had Horio, no...why had Ryoma...oh hell for that matter, why had  _she_  thought this whole fake girlfriend thing was a good idea? Why had _she_  agreed to do it? Why had Ryoma asked  _her_? Why did they keep kissing when they didn't have an  _audience_?

Oh and the scariest thing was, she already knew somewhere in her mind, somewhere in her heart, she had already decided she liked Echizen Ryoma before the subject had even come up. Somewhere in her mind she'd liked the fake girlfriend idea because she'd thought it was the only opportunity she'd ever have to spending time with someone like Echizen Ryoma. Somewhere in her mind, she'd been hoping that he'd ask her to do it, that he'd be her first kiss, that he'd...

"SA-KU-NOooooooooo! Get up already! The days are short my friend and we have MORE to do today than I think we can get done. So STOP  _making out_  with Ryoma-sama and get ready!"

Sakuno moaned out loud at Tomoka's embarrassing instructions while Ryoma snickered into her shoulder. She could feel his bare chest shaking against her side and it made her want to freeze time and savor the feeling forever.

"What a good idea, Horio's annoying girlfriend," he said lowly before he started planting butterfly kisses along the part of her neck that wasn't covered by his oversize for her shirt.

Sakuno pulled away, "I need to get up."

"No, no, you need to make out with Ryoma-sama," Ryoma mocked as he tugged on her arm, trying to keep her from getting out of the bed, but she was already halfway out. She planted her bare feet into the soft warm rug and wiggled her toes while she pulled her arm out of Ryoma's grasp.

Twisting her torso back to face him, she said, "Considering where we both were in the experience department when we met, you sure seem  _comfortable_."

He pushed himself to sit up with the palms of his hands and leaned his larger frame over her. He brushed his lips against her chin before moving and whispering into her ear, "I like what I like."

She flushed and purposely refused to make eye contact as she fumbled to stand up and out of the bed.  _Just what the hell was that supposed to mean?_  She ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing down it's craziness as Ryoma grabbed her wrist and said loudly enough for her ears only, "My pulse rate is just as fast as yours."

Mortified, Sakuno whipped her wrist out of his grasp and covered her face with her hands as she felt her entire body blush with embarrassment from the tips of her toes all the way to the top of her head, "Mou!  _Why did you say that_?"

Ryoma got out of the bed and put his two large palms over her shoulders, "I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug as she kept her hands covering her face he continued, "It was the truth when I told you I've never done anything like this before."

She knew it, she really did already know it...his look after he'd first kissed her had told her everything. Her body shivered in remembered delight and somewhere in her mind she allowed herself to be excited at being the first girl Ryoma had ever kissed or touched. Oh, this was such a  _dangerous_  game they were playing.

"I know," she mumbled out through her hands.

"So, we're good?" Ryoma asked.

She finally took her hands off her face and looked up into his completely cute vulnerable look. Oh...my...she lifted up onto her tippy toes for a second and gave him a little peck on the mouth, " _We'll always be good_."

He gave her a surprised look and before he could hold his tongue blurted, "You kissed me."

She gave him an impish grin, "Well-"

She wasn't allowed to finish her thought though as Ryoma grabbed her and gave her a devouring kiss, "Kiss me again," he demanded between breaths as Sakuno grasped onto his shoulders so she wouldn't fall over at his force of emotions pouring over her. Oh... _why did she do that_? He'd given her that LOOK, that LOOK he'd given her the night in her apartment when she'd stupidly been compelled to promise him that she would stay with him and somehow she'd felt the need to reassure him again and WHERE did these crazy ideas come from? How was he able to do that to her? To get her to just blurt out these promises to bind herself to him that would guarantee a world of emotional hurt for herself?

Obediently she kissed him again and again, until finally their bedroom door few open and they jumped apart as Tomoka stood there with her arms crossed. She gave the two of them a scolding look, and said to Sakuno, "I told you to stop making out with Ryoma-sama and get ready!"

"S-sorry Tomo-chan!" Sakuno stuttered out before she grabbed the small bag of her things off the dresser and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She leaned against the door for a moment, blushing and caught her breath.

_Wow_.

She went through her morning rituals, bathed, and changed into a light sundress Tomoka had stuffed into the small bag. A sundress in January wasn't exactly ideal, but at least she had clean clothes.

* * *

Tomoka had a lot to get done today. She was already feeling pretty positive that it wasn't all going to get done and was very grateful she had a few other days (she hoped) to really get it all done before she would be helping Sakuno pack up for two weeks in Australia. Maybe she should go with her to Australia? Maybe she could get hired on as Sakuno's assistant or her stylist or manager like Satoshi was for Ryoma-sama. After all, Sakuno was going to need a lot of help being Ryoma-sama's girlfriend (and Sakuno was so cute for being completely clueless about it) and who more qualified than her BFF that was a complete expert on all things celebrity, fashion, and Ryoma-sama?

She was bored with teaching at the cram school anyways, and it was always easy for her to call in for a substitute when she needed one. It wasn't like she had some insanely wonderful career she'd be walking away from, right? Doing something like this though, like being part of an entourage for the rich and famous? Totally at the top of herJobs I Would Love List! Not to mention she'd be able to be there for Sakuno and oh...she'd finally get to be with Satoshi all the time again. The annoying backstabbing prick that had left her to go pursue a better life in America.

...Who had also never submitted to breaking up and had come back to her with a large savings to show for it and promises of somehow figuring out how they could be together.

Well...here was an opportunity. If Ryoma-sama wouldn't hire her on direct (which, granting from how protective he was already being by looking out for Sakuno through the channel that was Satoshi which ended up in her lap) then maybe she could convince Sakuno to talk to Ryoma-sama about it. She was still pretty gobsmacked that her sweet, shy, completely uninterested in dating men at present BFF had ended up dating the world famous sexiest bachelor, and even more in shock over their quick physical progress of sleeping together and traveling together and...Tomoka's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Wait.  _Was it even possible_? That Sakuno would have kept something  _so big_  like this from her a secret for such a long time?  _Was it_?

As they entered the massive Ginza Matsuya department store, Tomoka curled her arm through Sakuno's and asked, "Sakuno, you wouldn't hold out on me, your BFF would you?"

Sakuno gave Tomoka a startled look, "Tomo-chan, what are you talking about?"

Tomoka pulled them both to a stop in the middle of the wide aisleway, "You and Ryoma-sama...have you been secretly dating him? Is that why you never went out with other guys? How long have you really known him and been together? I mean, I just can't figure out how you can go from a completely inexperienced ice princess to sleeping with the sexiest man on earth in less than 24 hours. It's just not something you would do, ever. There has to be something you aren't telling me."

Sakuno gave Tomoka a leery look as the other shoppers made their way around the two stopped friends, "Tomo-chan..." Sakuno finally opened hesitantly, "It's really complicated and I can't tell you more than that right now. I'm really sorry."

Tomoka pouted and grabbing both of Sakuno's hands within both of her own gave them an encouraging squeeze, "C'mon, Sakunooooo," She whined, "We're besties! I thought you told me  _everything_!"

Sakuno's eyes began to water a bit and Tomoka instantly felt bad, and gave her a reassuring hug, "Sorry for pressing you, but you better tell me all the juicy details one of these days or I'll never speak to you again!"

Sakuno gave a relieved chuckle, "Okay, one of these days..."

Not really satisfied, but knowing that pressing Sakuno more now would only end up in an argument or tears or both, Tomoka decided to drop the topic and move on with their Million and One Things to Get Done Before Leavingfor Australia List.

"Now then!" Tomoka curled her arm back through Sakuno's elbow and began dragging her towards an escalator, "We have a whole wardrobe to buy you, and all the stuff you'll need for Australia, and..." Tomoka paused as she noticed Sakuno beginning to look panicky. Wow...she'd almost forgotten how quickly Sakuno could become intimidated by these types of things.

She patted Sakuno's arm with her free hand, "Don't worry BFF, I'll be here to help you with all of this, and I'm thinking, I should get Ryoma-sama to hire me on as  _your_  manager, what do you think?"

Sakuno stopped and gave Tomoka a mouth-dropped in surprise expression of hope, "Really? You could do that? I can bring you with me and Ryoma and Horio-kun?"

Tomoka gave Sakuno a knowing nod, "Yup! You'll need to have an assistant or stylist or manager or whatever title Ryoma-sama or Satoshi want to give me and I can quit the school to help you out. There's  _no way_  I'm going to let those two  _stupid males_  cart my BFF all over the world without me!"

Sakuno let out of huff of relief, and pulled Tomoka into a bear hug, "Tomo-chan! You are the best!"

Tomoka grinned over Sakuno's shoulder at the shoppers and shelves of the department store, "I know."

"If you want the job, I will hire you. Call yourself whatever you want, I'm just so happy I don't have to do this alone. I have money," Sakuno blabbered away as they pulled back from their hug and began ascending the escalator.

"You don't have money for something like this," Tomoka interjected.

Sakuno looked down at the bustling shoppers and salespeople on the floor they'd been on as they got further and further away, "I...do."

"Since when?" Tomoka pressed.

Sakuno gulped as they stepped off the top of the escalator and turned right to go to the next escalator as the girls made their way to the fourth floor.

"Uhm, well, you see...I," She paused and bit her lip. The last thing she wanted to do was lie to Tomo-chan anymore than she kind-of already had about her relationship with the tennis prince. She wracked her brain for a compromise between the truth and a lie, "Ryoma and I set up some shared bank accounts for us yesterday so I could have money for traveling around with him and stuff. He said that being with him all the time would be very expensive, and you know, I refused to take it, but he insisted that it was necessary, and I still don't really know why, but it's a lot of money and I'm sure Ryoma would be okay with it so..."

She stopped herself from rambling on further and gave Tomoka a hopeful look as they arrived on the fourth floor and stopped again on the aisleway.

"Okay," Tomoka said and then gave Sakuno a conspiratorial grin.

"What?" Sakuno asked.

Tomoka pulled a three and a half inch piece of silver plastic from the back of her pant's pocket and held it up to Sakuno, "I think you're absolutely right about that, because Ryoma-sama instructed Satoshi yesterday to get you a high-class world-traveler wardrobe and get you set up with someone to take care of your hair and make-up for you," she paused and pointed to herself. "Good thing I had that phase where I went to beauty school, right?" Sakuno nodded in awe of her friend as she continued, "So Satoshi gave me Ryoma-sama's business credit card and told me to take care of it!" She squealed in excitement as Sakuno took the card from her friend's fingers and examined it.

"Wow Tomo-chan, I had no idea Ryoma told Horio-kun to make arrangements like this for me," She frowned at the platinum card before handing it back to her excited friend.

Tomoka took in Sakuno's frown as she stuffed the credit card back into her back pocket, "Sakuno, you aren't angry with Ryoma-sama are you?"

Sakuno's mouth twitched a bit, but she didn't comment.

"AWWWWW! Sakuno!  _Seriously_? This is every girls' dream come true! To get a hot boyfriend that's loaded to take care of them! Why aren't you happy?"

Sakuno laughed softly at Tomoka's chiding and said, "Like I told you before, Tomo-chan, Ryoma and I...it's _complicated_. You know I don't like shopping and makeovers like you do either. Oh, and I don't care what Ryoma says about my hair, I'm NOT cutting it!"

Tomoka cracked up at Sakuno's speech, as she gestured for them to proceed to the women's designer clothing racks and begin browsing through the clothes. "Ah, Sakuno, don't worry! I'm not going to cut your hair. I can do so many pretty things with it for you with it being all long and wavy the way it already is. We just won't be doing your typical long braids or your work buns, that's all."

"Well...since I can't go home, I do need clothes, even if I don't normally come to really expensive department stores like this for them." She held up a dress and flashed the large price tag at Tomoka to emphasize her point.

Tomoka cleared her throat, "That's why I had to bring you...Horio-kun and I both knew you wouldn't shop appropriately for the type of clothes you're going to need. Sakuno...it's going to be all high-end designers for you from now on, otherwise you'll just keep ending up on the worst-dressed lists and become fodder for all the tabloids from here to London."

Sakuno bit her tongue from saying something idealistic about the type of clothes she should be able to wear as Ryoma's girlfriend as she obediently flipped through rack after rack of clothing and grabbed her size in anything she remotely liked. She knew Tomo-chan was right; she'd never been into those magazines and TV shows like Tomo-chan was, but she'd been exposed to enough of it to know that celebrities and their significant others and anybody else seen out regularly with them were constantly under the microscope. Especially ones like Echizen Ryoma that topped the sexist bachelor list. Ryoma was paying her to keep him from ridicule, so the least she could do is follow instructions on this small matter for him. She'd look her best to make him look good. In the end, that was what she'd signed up for, right? If she was going to make an issue about something, shouldn't it be all the physical liberties he was taking with her?

The girls spent a good two hours or so just going through all the racks and then with a mountain of clothes, they headed for the dressing rooms, found the biggest one and began going through all the outfits, dresses and separates. Making piles of 'for sure,' 'maybe,' and 'absolutely not' they worked their way through everything the store had to offer before the third hour was over. Taking their selections to the register, they paid for the goods with Ryoma's business credit card and with their hands filled with bags, made their way down to the third floor for the shoes departments. They enjoyed picking out shoes and having them brought to them to be tried on. Thankfully the shoes didn't take half as long as the designer dresses and outfits had on the floor above them.

After the shoes they paused to have a quiet lunch in the sushi restaurant on the eighth floor. As they took their seats at one of the tables, the massive amounts of shopping bags surrounding them like bath bubbles, Sakuno's phone started playing a familiar pop song indicating she was getting a call. Picking up the phone she noticed the caller ID and touching the screen to accept she took the call and greeted, "Hi Ryoma."

"Hey."

"..."

"When are you coming home?"

"I don't know, hold on," Sakuno looked across the table at Tomoka, and meeting her eyes, "Tomo-chan, when are we going back to Ryoma's house?"

Tomoka placed her head in the palm of her hand with her elbow on the table and frowned, "I'm tired as anything, but we still have a lot of stuff to buy, honestly we aren't even half way done. Though...we are getting to the point where we're going to have more bags than we can carry out of here and fit into the car. We haven't even gone to the lingerie section to get you bras and panties, so I think we have to at least do that before we leave for the day."

Tomo-chan had a good point. Sakuno was exhausted and super sick of shopping, but she did need fresh underwear for tomorrow and something to sleep in besides Ryoma's big t-shirts.

"I'm not sure when we'll be done, there's still a lot of things I need to get before we can stop for the day," Sakuno informed Ryoma.

"The days are short so if you want to practice your twist serve today you need to get back soon," Ryoma told her.

Well, darn. She was actually looking forward to playing some more tennis today, but by the time they finished up here and got back to the house and brought all her new stuff in, the sun would probably be setting.

"I really want to do that, but I don't know if it's going to happen again until I get all this shopping done," Sakuno told him sadly.

"Che, girls and their shopping," Ryoma complained.

"I'm shopping today because  _you_  told Horio-kun to take care of getting me everything I would need for this  _new lifestyle_  with  _you_. So don't complain about it to me now! I'll quit!"

Ryoma's voice dropped low, "Quit what?  _Me_?"

Sakuno drew in a startled breath as she realized he'd misunderstood her. Her heart flew into her throat and her face flushed slightly as she cupped her mouth over the phone and whispered furiously, "No! Ryoma! You need to stop saying stuff like that! I meant I'll quit  _shopping_  and then I won't look nice when I'm with you in Australia. Listen, as it is now I still don't have anything resembling a complete wardrobe."

Ryoma was quiet for a second, "Fine. I'll see you when you get home, I'll be on the tennis court."

"I'll get there as soon as possible," She offered.

"All right. Bye," Ryoma said. He stared at his cell phone in frustration and then stuffed it back into his tennis bag and resumed his lonely practice session with the court's wall. Was it really possible that he missed her already? _How annoying_.

Sakuno hit the red end call button on her cell phone and then stared at it in wonder. Wow. Ryoma had called her. What did that mean?

"You guys fight like you've been together for a long time," Tomoka commented.

Sakuno looked up at her friend and gave her a warning look, "Tomoka."

Tomoka threw her hands up in surrender, "I'm just saying!"


	11. Caught

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

* * *

The girls finished their late lunch and then made their way back to the third floor to stock up on bras, panties, stockings and any other undergarments Sakuno would need in the foreseeable future. Tomoka suggested quite a few naughty nighttime garments which Sakuno vehemently refused. Tomoka bought a few of them on the sneak anyway, as she wanted to keep Ryoma-sama happy with her being Sakuno's...whatever title they decided on.

As they were gathering their bags together at the checkout register Tomoka started going through a checklist with Sakuno, "We have dresses, pants, sweaters, shoes, bras, panties, and nighties." She began ticking off on her fingers what was left: "We still need coats, swimsuits, formals, and by formals I mean both western formals as well as a kimono or two, workout clothes, super cute tennis outfits, of course." She waved her finger around knowingly, before continuing onto the next hand, "Some warmer weather clothing since it's summer in Australia right now. Honestly, I'm not sure where we'll find that stuff here in January, so we might have to shop more after we get to Australia. Then we'll also need to stock up on accessories like sunglasses, purses, scarves, gloves, hats," She threw her hands up as she ran out of fingers, "You get what I'm saying. Oh! We also need to get you luggage, makeup and jewelry!"

Sakuno's shoulders slumped in being overwhelmed by how much they had left and whined as she picked up her portion of the piles of bags, "Tooomooooo-chaaaan!" She hefted the bags up and slung them around so they rested against her back, "That is so! Much! Stuff! How are we ever going to get this all done?"

Tomoka grabbed her share of the bags and the two started making their way back to the escalator. She frowned, "I don't know, we only have five days before we leave for Australia. We're definitely going to be really busy all week though."

"I hope Ryoma doesn't get mad with us being gone all day everyday, I can't believe he called today to ask when we were coming back," Sakuno commented.

Tomoka shook her head and gushed, "I'm not surprised, it's so obvious he's crazy about you! I bet every second you guys are apart is torture!"

Sakuno gave Tomoka a look from the side of her eyes, "You're such a romantic."

Tomoka smirked and jostled towards Sakuno, "Oh, don't play like you aren't Little Miss Waiting for Mr. Perfect your whole life! You know you've been holding out for a prince like Ryoma-sama to come whisk you away since you were a little girl!"

The two women giggled.

* * *

As they arrived back at the temple, the sun was indeed dipping into the horizon. Sakuno rushed into the house, ran up the stairs, changed into another set of Ryoma's old clothes since the girls hadn't gotten to sports outfits yet and then sprinted up the temple's steps to the tennis court. Her heart began beating erratically at the thought of seeing Ryoma again, she was nervous and happy all at the same time and didn't know if she wanted to kiss him or hide from him.

Reaching the crest she spotted Ryoma's back as he pounded a tennis ball furiously into the back wall with one perfectly aimed powerful stroke after another.

Wow. He was a monster with a racquet. No wonder he was the world champion, Sakuno mused.

"You're late," Ryoma opened as he bounced the ball towards the sky instead of the wall, and turned to face her while continuing to bounce it lightly against his racquet.

Sakuno sighed, "It's going to be a long week."

He gave her a sympathetic look, "I hate shopping."

Sakuno giggled as she approached him, "I don't  _hate_  shopping, but I'm not the type of girl that loves it either."

He grabbed the ball out of mid-air and stuffed it into his pocket. He needed to find something to do besides pull her into his arms to feel the sensation of her body pressed up against his own, as it was all he could think about at the moment. It had been hours since he'd last kissed her! Damn! He really needed to fight this. Nope. No way. Not in this realm of the universe would Echizen Ryoma allow himself to be so attached to a female that he would get all pathetic and  _whipped_. No. Freaking. Way. His disobedient body still stepped closer to her as she approached. His bad, BAD free hand reached out and cupped the side of her face as he apologized, "I'm sorry for dragging you into my problems."

Sakuno looked up at him and gave him a brave smile, "It's okay, I signed up for it, remember?"

Ryoma grimaced at her subtle reminder of their arrangement. "Right," he said as he pulled his hand away from her and stuffed it into his pocket. He gripped the tennis ball there and tried to squeeze all the air out of it.

Dammit.

Sakuno templed her two index fingers together as she asked, "So...I guess it's too late for my tennis lesson?"

Ryoma glanced towards the horizon where the sun was quickly dipping below their view, "Hn." He walked over to his tennis bag and deposited his racquet and tennis ball into it and zipped it up. Picking up the bag he slung it over his shoulder and started making his way down the temple steps.

He heard Sakuno's quick wobbly footsteps hasten to catch up to him, "So that's it?"

He stopped and craned his neck around to look back at her. She was standing two steps above him, making her only about an inch taller than he was since the stairs weren't big steps, but small ones.

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow we can practice," he offered.

Her whole countenance lit up and she flashed him a sparkling smile, "Okay, I'd really like that."

He turned away quickly and started walking down the steps again and started up his mantra from the day before: Don't kiss her. Don't touch her. Don't kiss her. Don't touch her. He picked up his pace and started moving faster and faster down the steps, by the time he reached the bottom he was almost running, and yet somehow Sakuno was still right on his heels.

"Why are we rushing?" She asked as they made their way across the backdoor's threshold into the house.

Ryoma didn't comment and instead kicked his shoes off as Sakuno followed suit. Damn. He  _really_  needed to get away from her. Now.

As they walked into the main living room, Horio stopped them and called out, "You two! Stop!"

Ryoma halted and Sakuno ran into his back. She gasped as in one fluid motion he wrapped an arm around her, pulled her to his side and turned them to face Horio.

Horio was waving a stack of celebrity gossip papers around with one hand as he walked up to them, "My phone has been blowing up  _all_ _day_! Have you seen  _this_?"

Looking at the top magazine they took in the full color front page picture of the two of them kissing against Ryoma's rental car the day before. Sakuno gasped again as she stepped out of Ryoma's arms and grabbed the paper from Horio's hand.

Ryoma pulled her back into his arms as she started turning red all over. "It's fine," he whispered into her ear trying to remind her not to be embarrassed of these things. Her eyes scanned over the headline: "CAUGHT! Echizen Ryoma's Girlfriend?" In the bottom corner was a picture of her taken for work in front of the Ramen shop with the caption: "Who is Ryuzaki Sakuno? How long has she been dating  _The_ _Prince_?"

Sakuno worried her lower lip as Ryoma smirked with the satisfaction of a job well done. It felt good to be a step ahead of the paparazzi for once and he was going to make sure it stayed that way. He grabbed the paper from Sakuno's hands and folded the cover in on itself as he handed it back to his manager, "Give them a statement. The day before we leave."

"And tell them what exactly?" Horio asked as he took the paper from Ryoma.

Ryoma gave Horio a look that clearly indicated he thought the other man was being daft, but spelled it out for him anyways, "Confirm that she's my girlfriend." Ryoma squeezed Sakuno's shoulder in closer to his chest and dropped a chaste kiss against her temple.

He was comforting her, Sakuno realized as her consciousness snapped back into attention. That was BAD. BAD! She wasn't doing a good job! She was supposed to play it cool, wasn't she?

"That's it? That's all you want me to tell them?" Horio was questioning Ryoma and he sounded super frustrated, even for Horio. Sakuno perked her head up to watch her friend interact with his boss.

"For now," Ryoma replied. Sakuno closed her eyes slowly and opened them as she began to feel the comforting effect of being wrapped in Ryoma's arms. Wow...he was even protecting her from Horio she realized. He really didn't want this to be hard on her at all.

Ryoma felt Sakuno's shoulders slump and knew she'd finally calmed down. That went pretty well. Considering it was her first time seeing herself in a gossip article, she did good. Thankfully it had been in the privacy of their home and in front of Horio whom was too busy trying to figure out how he would handle the media on Ryoma's behalf than on Sakuno's reaction. Though...if anything would convince Horio this was real and not just them going off of his stupid idea and then lying to him about it, it would be Sakuno acting like a normal girl, right? Hmm...

"So what are we going to tell them later?" Horio asked.

Ryoma shrugged, "We'll figure it out later."

Horio huffed in exasperation, "Fine. It's your endorsements at stake if your image gets ruined, not mine, oh wait, that's right, you pay for my paycheck off of that money, so why should I care?"

Ryoma rolled his eyes, "Now you're just being ridiculous."

"No, I'm not!" Horio insisted.

"Mada mada dane. Your paycheck comes out of my prize money. I don't even touch my endorsement funds."

Horio blinked in surprise, "You don't?"

"Nope," he replied. Knowing the important part of the conversation was now over, he gave Horio a slight wave over his back as he steered Sakuno towards the stairs to go up to their room.

"Dang, Echizen," Horio's comment floated up the stairs to the couple as they made their way up the stairs.

When they reached the landing, Sakuno pushed herself out of his arm that had been around her back, "I'm fine." She held both hands up in front of herself, as if to ward Ryoma off.

"I guess I just wasn't expecting the full-color front page, and  _so_ _many_ _of_ _them_ ," She grasped for excuses.

"It's nothing."

Sakuno shook her head back and forth quickly to shake off her spiraling out of control thoughts, "I can handle it." She said it more to herself than anything. Being on the front cover of magazines kissing the sexiest man alive? No problem.  _Really_.

"Make sure you don't go anywhere alone for the rest of the week," Ryoma instructed as they stepped into their bedroom. He tossed his cap on the dresser and then sat on the bed and pulled his socks off as Sakuno stared at him blankly. Her thoughts imagining being swarmed by paparazzi again and how much worse it would be now that they knew she  _was_  Ryoma's girlfriend.

"I'll have Horio teach his girlfriend how to help you. Don't say anything to them. No matter what they say ignore them and just keep moving, that way they can only take pictures," Ryoma continued to instruct as he stood back up and removed his shirt.

That got her attention back in the present. Sakuno stared at his bare chest, admiring his well built frame. He'd been shirtless the night before and that morning, but she'd been so nervous about sleeping together and kissing in the morning, she hadn't really had the opportunity to check him out. She folded her hands together behind her so she wouldn't touch him.

"I'm going to take a shower," he announced as he balled up his shirt and socks and tossed them into the laundry basket.

"O-okay..." Sakuno heaved out a nervous breath, as she anxiously waited for him to go into the bathroom so she could stop feeling the need to run her hand over his arm and down his chest. Maybe it was because he'd just stopped practicing for the day so he was all pumped up, or because his hair was messy from taking his hat off, or because he'd simply awakened her sleeping hormones two days ago, but she wanted nothing more than to graze her fingers all over him from the top of his head to his waist.

He put his hands on his hips, "What?"

Sakuno continued to stare at his shoulders as she sighed, "Nothing."

Why the hell wouldn't she look at his face? Ryoma wondered.

He took a step towards her and she took a step back, her hands still clasped behind her back, her eyes still looking everywhere at him except into his eyes. What was her problem?

He took another step towards her and she stepped back once again this time commenting, "I thought you were going to take a shower."

"I am," He stepped towards her again as she stepped back again and again and again. He advanced until they were a foot apart with Sakuno's back up against the wall. What the hell? He put his hands over her shoulders, "Look at me."

Sakuno licked her lips and swallowed before she lifted her eyes up and met his.

Noticing the look in her eyes she was unable to hide, Ryoma blushed slightly and took a step back in shock, "Wha-"

WOW. He wasn't expecting a look like that.

She looked away from him towards the floor, blushing in embarrassment, knowing somehow he'd read where her mind was and then a second later, his large hands was wrapped around her hips, pulling her up against him. She looked back up into his eyes in surprise as she grabbed onto his shoulders to keep herself steady and to prevent them from roaming elsewhere.

"You," he stopped the words on his tongue and grinned. Leaning his head down he licked the corner of her mouth playfully.

She gasped as he broke contact and pulled away enough to look into her eyes again, he gave her a cocky smirk with half lidded eyes, "It's okay to touch me."

Sakuno's mouth dropped open in embarrassed horror as she realized that not only had he noticed she wanted to touch him, but that he'd said as much to her. Her flush darkened and she dug her fingers into his shoulders, trying somehow to punish him for being so brazen.

Unperturbed by her nonverbal warning, Ryoma took one of her hands into his own and rubbed it down his chest watching as she relaxed again and stared in wonder at her hand touching him.

She flashed her eyes up to his again, and finally Ryoma saw the look he'd been waiting to see in her eyes again since the first time he'd kissed her when they'd been wrapped around the side of her kotatsu.

Permission.

He let her hand go from his and instead snaked it under the edge of her shirt as he kissed her. She pushed towards him, as her hands began sweeping roams over his shoulders, chest, back and abs. They stumbled and Ryoma steered them towards the bed as they continued. He fell back onto the mattress, and Sakuno followed. Climbing on top of him, she put her knees around his hips and sat on his legs as he pulled her shirt off and tossed it onto the floor. Putting his hands at her waist he began to slowly slide them up her sides, his eyes watching hers, making sure the look of permission stayed in them.

"Echizen, one other thing-" Horio announced loudly as the door burst open.

Sakuno screamed and covered her hands over her chest, even though her back was to the door as Ryoma sat up abruptly, covering as much of her back as possible with his arms. He pulled her chest into his own, and shot his scariest death look over Sakuno's bra strap only clad shoulder.

"Get out!" Ryoma barked as Sakuno stuffed her face into Ryoma's neck, thinking she might possibly  _die of embarrassment_.

Horio's entire body turned red with shocked embarrassment as he awkwardly replied, "I'm  _SO_ _SORRY_ ," and slammed the door shut behind him.

Sakuno was shivering as she breathed heavily into his shoulder, her arms trapped between their chests, covering her bra covered breasts.

Knowing the moment was gone, Ryoma was irritated beyond belief that he hadn't locked the door.


	12. Journey

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Twelve

* * *

The next few days followed in much of the same vein as the first shopping day had for Sakuno and Tomoka. Each day the young women spent all day shopping or making other preparations. They'd even spent a whole day at a spa and afterwards Sakuno had felt like her whole body was sparkling from head to toe. She didn't think her skin had ever felt so soft, or glowed so brightly.

The cold January days were short and the girls were returning later and later each evening. Sakuno hadn't been able to get in another tennis session at all with Ryoma yet. In fact, she hadn't even made it up the hill again since the first shopping day when she'd rushed to try to make it before sunset.

Was she avoiding Ryoma? Maybe. Okay, so yes,  _a_ _little_ _bit_. It had been extremely uncomfortable for her that Horio-kun had walked in on them being so... _naughty_. The good thing of it was, Horio-kun had completely stopped trying to call them out for being liars about their relationship, and had instead jumped onto the 'So Happy for the New Couple' bandwagon with Tomoka. The bad of it was, things had been awkward with Ryoma ever since.

In fact, neither of them had even initiated kissing or touching each other in private since then. They still had dinner with their friends every night, both of them putting on a show of being a happy couple, and slept together every night, somehow managing to wake up each morning cuddling and then awkwardly separating, but that was all the interaction they had.

Sakuno was starting to feel a little depressed and empty inside over it. She didn't know what was worse; exposing herself to hurt by pretending they were dating for real even to themselves, or the hollow feelings she felt from pretending they were dating only in front of others.

The other change had been the extra efforts Tomo-chan and she'd had to make to protect her identity when they were out. Since her face was so new to the tabloids, thankfully most people she talked with didn't notice, or if they did, they didn't comment. The regular tabloid readers noticed though, and they were usually the women they were getting assistance from like the make-up counter assistants at the department store or the women giving them treatments at the spa. Thankfully everybody that had recognized her so far had been nice about it and had been more excited about asking her questions about 'Ryoma-sama' than details about their relationship. Sakuno knew it could have been so much worse. Perhaps it was the high end locations they were going to, she honestly didn't know, but she was thankful that she hadn't had another paparazzi encounter yet.

Trying to answer their questions about Ryoma would have been really difficult too, if Tomo-chan hadn't been there with her. Her BFF had blossomed into the perfect publicist seemingly overnight and Sakuno was rather awed by it. She had proved to be a bottomless well of knowledge on all things Echizen Ryoma and had been too happy to jump into the awkward conversations, effortlessly take them over, and then quickly close the topic. Through this, Sakuno was learning all sorts of things about Ryoma as well, though really...she would have enjoyed learning these things from him directly, at least she was getting prepared so she wouldn't be caught again not knowing something simple, like the fact that he was left-handed.

They'd really got a lot done though. She was starting to feel prepared for taking the world on as Ryoma's girlfriend. She had a full new wardrobe. She had a new laptop. Her whole body had been thoroughly pampered - she didn't think she'd ever looked or felt so good. Her hair glistened, her skin glowed, her nails and toenails were painted to perfection. She'd already interacted with several of Ryoma's fans as his girlfriend and she had Tomoka officially hired on as part of Ryoma's entourage.

* * *

Ryoma, on the other hand, was pissed. He was pissed and frustrated. It had been four days straight since he'd had any real time with Sakuno. It had been one day after another of getting up early to Sakuno acting well... _weird_ , her being gone all day, way past the time for their evening tennis practice, followed by what he felt was a performance dinner with Horio and Horio's girlfriend and then their nightly routines. Ever since  _that_ _time_ , Sakuno hadn't so much as looked him in the eye.  _Not even once_. She even kept her back to him in bed. He just wanted to pick up where they'd left off before Horio had interrupted.

_He'd ruined everything._

Today Horio was confirming Sakuno was his girlfriend and tomorrow they were all leaving for Australia. There was no going back to being single after this and Sakuno was avoiding him, acting like nothing outside of their "fake" arrangement had happened.

It had happened though. Lots of  _not fake_  stuff had happened and it mattered, dammit.

Something had to give.

So today instead of practicing tennis all day he'd done a bit of shopping himself. She'd need it anyway, and it would give him an opportunity to talk to her. He'd come home, bathed, shaved and was now dosing off on their bed, waiting for Sakuno to get back.

* * *

Utterly exhausted, Sakuno and Tomoka arrived back to Ryoma's house exceptionally late on their last night in Japan. There had been so many things to get done and since it was the last day before they left, they'd stayed out until everything had been completed. They'd even skipped out on having dinner with the guys.

Sakuno quietly entered the bedroom she shared with Ryoma. The lights were still on, but Ryoma was sleeping on the bed on top of the covers, his hands behind his head and a small wrapped present laying next to him. She cracked a smile. Wow...had Ryoma actually gone out to buy her a present? That was almost something a  _real_ boyfriend would do.

She swept her hair behind her ear and climbed onto the bed on her side, watching and waiting for Ryoma to stir.

As soon as he felt movement on the bed, an eye cracked open. Sakuno was hovering above him on the bed watching him and finally, he was able to make eye contact without her quickly looking away.

"Welcome home."

"I'm home."

Oh, how badly he wanted to just melt into her when she said things like that. Home.  _Their_ _home_. There was something kind of delicious about that.

He took his arms out from behind his head and pushed his hands down on the mattress, sitting up. He reached out the hand closest to her and strung his fingers through the hair on the side of her head against her scalp as she sighed.

"Are you ready for Australia?"

She nodded.

"Good," Taking his hand out of her hair, he picked up the wrapped gift sitting between them on the bed and passed it to her, "I got you something today."

Hesitantly, Sakuno took the gift from his hand with both of her own, "You didn't have to get me anything."

Ryoma shook his head, "You're going to need it."

She smirked at the gift, "Confident, aren't you?"

"Heh."

Slipping the bow off the box, Sakuno tore the wrapper off and stared at the box in surprise.

"You got me a cell phone?"

...

" _Why_? I already have a nice cell phone."

Ryoma took the box from her hands and opened it up, pulling the phone out he handed it to her, "It's a world phone, so it will work everywhere we go. The phone you have now would just be a paperweight outside of Japan. Cell phones that work in and out of Japan are especially hard to come by because the network technology here is different from everywhere else."

Sakuno stared at the new phone, "Wow, I had no idea." She held the phone up, "That was...really thoughtful of you. Thank you."

"It's nothing."

Setting the phone on her nightstand she decided to "move" into her new phone tomorrow on the plane, it would give her something to do.

"I'm going to take a bath," She announced as she swung her legs around and pushed herself off the bed.

Later that night, Ryoma stared at Sakuno's back in the darkness. At least she'd actually looked at him tonight. He reached out a hand and twisted a strand of her hair around his finger idly, lost in his thoughts, wondering when he'd have her permission again.

* * *

The morning they were leaving for Australia, they slept in. Ryoma and Sakuno were burrowed together under their covers, basking in their shared warmth and their first opportunity to sleep in together. Finally, Sakuno roused herself awake, and through half-lidded eyes realized that once again she'd woken up to being wrapped up with Ryoma. She tilted her head up and was met with open hazel eyes.

She flushed as her heart raced and looked down into Ryoma's bare chest. His arms tightened around her, squeezing her closer. She took in a hasty breath. He hadn't let her go yet, and she hadn't tried to push him away either. Was it because she'd woken only to discover he was already awake, watching her sleep in?  _Why was he watching her sleep_?

He continued to gaze at the top of her head, waiting. Waiting for this awkwardness that had come out of nowhere after Horio had walked in on them to go away. What was it going to take for them to get back to where they'd been? Why the hell did he care so much? Absentmindedly, he rubbed up and down the side of her arm and then suddenly, he felt it. She relaxed. He'd felt her whole body tense as she'd woken up, given him a wide-eyed glance and then look away from him, but she'd just relaxed and nuzzled into his chest with her face. He dropped his hand that had been rubbing her arm down to the hem of her pajama top and putting his arm under the shirt he made contact with her bare back.

At the skin on skin contact, Sakuno startled for a second, and then looked back up at him with those questioning eyes of hers. He left a whisper of a trail across her skin on her back with the tips of his fingers as she gazed up at him, silently questioning him with questions he didn't even know and for answers he certainly didn't have.

"Are you ready for this?"

She licked her lips and gave a slight nod of her head, "As ready as I can be, I think."

"Everything's going to be okay."

She nodded emphatically this time, "You take good care of me, I noticed."

His chest puffed up a bit with pride at her unexpected praise, and he gave her a smirk adding, "It's going to be perfect because we're going to be together."

Sakuno blinked in surprise at his comment, "What do you mean?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You know what I mean."

Her eyes flickered for a second with some level of understanding and somehow, it was enough for him. He dipped his head to her and captured her lips in a soft, sweet kiss.

Pulling away he took in her flushed faced and then, she was grabbing his shoulders and pulling him back, kissing him again.

Finally! Things were back to normal.

For them.

* * *

As everybody woke up and started the day, the girls rushed about and fussed as they packed up, while the boys watched them in fascination.

"Girls have to pack so much more than we do," Horio commented.

"Hn," Ryoma agreed.

Horio held his hand up with his index finger pointing skywards as if he'd just received a revelation, "Though...I don't think Tomoka or Ryuzaki have ever left Japan before this, so going with us to Australia is a big deal."

Ryoma hoped it wasn't too big of a deal. After all, Sakuno had signed on for a whole lot of upcoming travel with him, and she'd need to get used to it really quick if she was going to be happy. Still, he crossed his arms and his legs as he lounged back into his chair deciding not to comment further.

Another 15 minutes passed by before Horio announced that their limo was there to drive them to the airport. The girls scrambled for a few more minutes as matching luggage bags began to appear on the stairway's landing. After loading his small amount of luggage, Ryoma started up the stairs and moved Sakuno's bags to the car while Horio followed suit with Tomoka's luggage. Before too long, they were all piled in the limo and Sakuno was pouring everybody drinks.

Handing Ryoma a vodka and orange ponta, Sakuno settled into the seat next to him with her own identical drink, "I'm so nervous."

Ryoma took a gulp of his drink, hoping it would make him tired so he could sleep the whole flight and gave Sakuno a questioning look.

"I've never flown before," She shared.

Ryoma gave a grunt of acknowledgement.

She took a big swig from her drink and added, "I've never left Japan before either. Actually...are we coming back here after the Australian Open?"

Ryoma shrugged, "Maybe. It depends on what Horio books for me while we're there, but there's another tournament about a week after the Australian Open, so if we come back it won't be for long."

She stared into her glass and rolled the ice around in the alcoholic soda mix for a moment in thought, "So what tournament is that?"

"The ABN AMRO in The Netherlands," Ryoma answered before tipping his glass for another big gulp.

"The Netherlands? Wow! I've always wanted to go there!" Sakuno exclaimed as her mind drifted into her fantasy Dutch world filled with tulips and windmills.

"It's really cold there in February," Ryoma groused into his glass before taking a small sip.

"Oh, is it hard to play there?" Sakuno asked, imagining tennis courts piled with snow around them and players trying to keep warm.

"No, the courts are indoor. It's just cold in Rotterdam in February," He explained as Sakuno nodded over the tip of her glass while taking a few more sips.

"So...do we come back after that then?" She asked.

Ryoma leaned forward and set his glass in one of the cup holders of the limo's bar. As he sat back he rubbed his hands together to warm them back up from the icy chill of the glass as he shook his head, "Then we go to Dubai."

"Dubai? As in that super fancy rich city with the tallest building in the world and the palm tree shaped island? Where exactly is that again?" Sakuno babbled in surprise. She thought it was just going to be the four big tournaments and then an exhibition match here or there, but it sounded like there were a lot of other tournaments throughout the year that were going to be keeping them busy and away from home. She sucked down about half of the contents of her glass quickly as she once again realized why Ryoma made such a big deal out of their arrangement.

Ryoma picked his glass back up and swirled the bits of ice cubes and drink that were left in his almost empty glass, "Yep. It's on the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula. You'll like Dubai, it's a really cool city," He finished off the last of his drink.

Sakuno took the last large gulp of her own drink and commented, "If I can handle flying!" She gave a nervous giggle and Ryoma cracked a smile.

"Flying only sucks when you have to get on a commercial airliner packed full of people."

Sakuno wasn't sure what that meant, so she took Ryoma's empty glass sans melting ice, "Would you like another drink?"

Ryoma shook his head and pointed towards the window, "We'll be on the plane soon."

"All right," Sakuno looked out the window to see how close they were to the airport and was surprised to see the control tower of Haneda Tokyo Airport already in view. She placed their empty glasses in the cup holders, sat back against the seat and watched as they drove into the airport.

The limo stopped at a small terminal set aside for VIPs and private jets, and they all piled out of the limo as their luggage was collected and brought in behind them by a luggage porter. As they entered the airport, Ryoma turned around and took Sakuno's hand into his own, "This way."

He led Sakuno by the hand with the rest of the group behind them out to the gate where a midsize jet plane sat waiting with it's airstairs open to the ground for boarding.

Sakuno grabbed Ryoma's arm in a vice grip, "You didn't tell me you had your own plane!"

They continued walking towards the plane as Ryoma teased, "Hey Sakuno, I have my own plane."

She punched the side of his arm playfully, "Don't make fun. This is a big deal!"

He glanced at her from the side of his eyes as she gazed at his modest Gulfstream in awe, "It's not a big deal."

"Yes it is!" She insisted.

He ran his free hand through his hair, "I have to fly a lot. I also get a lot of problems with fans and reporters when I have to go on a normal flight so I needed my own plane, this isn't just some show-off thing."

Sakuno nodded her head, "I think I'm starting to understand it a bit, Ryoma."

His life was hectic, complicated and always in the spotlight, that's what she was starting to understand. She had no idea it was so crazy for tennis stars.

They stopped at the bottom of the airstairs and Ryoma gestured for her to ascend first. As Sakuno cleared the top step, she got her first look into the cabin of the plane and noted how comfortable and luxurious it was. She shook her head in wonder at how very different her life was from her 'boyfriend's' and had a difficult time wrapping her head around how he could think that something like this wasn't a big deal. She was starting to understand though. After being chased down by paparazzi, and hearing about how they would be doing three tournaments in the next month or so in three different corners of the world. Yeah, she could appreciate why someone like Echizen Ryoma would actually need his own airplane. The mobs of reporters, the crowds of fans, the constant flying, the much needed continued practice; it would probably drive someone crazy rather quickly if they couldn't catch a break.

She was starting to see how it could also be rather lonely.

She felt Ryoma's hand at the small of her back as he joined her in the cabin and nudged her to enter further into the aircraft. She obeyed his steering and they settled across from each other in cream colored large leather seats.

"Wow! Ryoma-sama! You are a pimp!" Tomoka exclaimed from the doorway as she entered the plane behind Horio. Horio sweatdropped, Sakuno giggled and Ryoma put his hand over his face and covered up a chuckle.

The couple took the seats across the aisle from Ryoma and Sakuno, giving all four of them the ability to see each other and talk.

"How long is the flight?" Sakuno asked.

"About ten and a half hours," Horio answered as he stood back up and made his way to their steward to oversee their luggage being loaded into the cargo bay, and to give the go ahead for take off when everything was ready. Horio gave a nod to Ryoma as he settled back in his seat.

Within minutes the cabin door was sealed and the plane began to taxi to the runway. Sakuno gave a nervous glance out of her window and grabbed the sides of her chair.

Ryoma watched in fascination as Sakuno's knuckles turned white while the plane's engines ramped up and the plane began it's race down the runway for take off. It was so smooth, nothing like a commercial flight, and Ryoma knew the difference and even enjoyed flying in his plane, but Sakuno didn't know how good she had it, especially for a first flight. She was a nervous wreck. It was kind-of cute. He found himself reaching across the table and weaving his fingers between hers, giving her a reassuring squeeze. She squeezed back and kept her eyes out the window, her mouth dropping in an 'o' of appreciation as the plane smoothly lifted off the ground and took to the sky. She still squeezed his fingers as they continued to ascend, her eyes focused on the ocean that was getting farther and farther away until finally the plane leveled out and the seatbelt sign dinged off, letting them all know it was safe to move about the plane.

Sakuno finally looked at Ryoma with a big smile as she let go of the death grip on his fingers, "That was amazing."

He smirked, "Good, because you'll be flying a lot from now on."

She gave him that happy smile of hers that sparkled all the way to her eyes, "Okay."

Okay. Ryoma's heart sped up at her smile as it always did. That was... _perfect_ , he thought.

Horio and Tomoka were starting up a card game on the table between them, and somehow he knew it was up to him to keep Sakuno occupied during this first flight of hers. Unbuckling his seatbelt, he motioned for Sakuno to get up and follow him before the two sat on the long sofa behind the plane's seats. Sakuno cuddled into his side as he flipped on the TV across the cabin from the sofa to watch a movie, and ordered the steward to make them some more ponta and vodka drinks. Maybe he'd still be able to get a bit of a nap in with her since they were on the sofa...


	13. Arrival

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

Just before midnight local time Ryoma's plane landed in Melbourne Airport. The tired party turned their cell phones back on from airplane mode and waited for the time to update the 2 hours ahead difference from Tokyo as they waited for the cabin door to open so they could exit the plane. Everybody was peeling off layers of clothing from the extreme temperature difference from winter in Tokyo to summer in Australia.

The girls were in the bathroom in the back of the plane and Tomoka was fussing with Sakuno's outfit and hair, trying to fix her up a bit incase they were met with photojournalists upon their arrival. Sakuno was disappointed that it was dark outside and didn't get to enjoy her first aerial view of Australia. Even still, she was consumed with the excitement of being in a completely new place.

"What's our status?" Ryoma asked Horio as they men lounged in the large leather seats across from each other, waiting to exit the plane.

Horio grimaced, "Well, time is on our side, since it's almost midnight local time, but we can expect a media frenzy for the next couple of weeks. We just announced yesterday you have a girlfriend, and you're the top seeded player for the first title for the Grand Slam this year."

Ryoma nodded, "So what do you think?"

Horio rubbed his face, his stress oozing off of him in waves, "Probably not here at the airport, it's the beauty of private flying and our odd arrival time. The hotel is most likely for paparazzi problems, Melbourne Park will for sure demand an arrival press conference and some time at Autograph Island scheduled for the first week. The parties and events will be wildcards, it depends on where we go and the impact Ryuzaki will have on your gossip magazine exposure. The paparazzi will probably try to tail everything Ryuzaki does, so we'll need to keep her with Tomoka while you're playing, maybe we can leave her in the hotel..."

"Yada."

"What?"

"She needs to be at all my matches," Ryoma said.

"All of them?" Horio asked.

Ryoma crossed his arms over his chest, "Yup."

"Echizen, I don't think that's a good idea-" Horio stopped as Ryoma gave him a death glare.

"She'll be at all of them," he insisted.

"All of what?" Sakuno asked interrupting the men's heated conversation as the girls made their way back towards the front of the plane from the bathroom in the back.

"All of my matches," Ryoma said.

Sakuno clapped her hands together excitedly, "Yes! I can't wait to watch you play!"

Ryoma gave Horio a satisfied smirk as he stood up and put an arm around Sakuno's shoulders, "See, my cheerleader."

Horio groaned as Sakuno shoved Ryoma away and Tomoka bursted with excitement at being a cheerleader with Sakuno. It was during this chaos that the cabin door was opened. The group descended the airstairs one at a time amidst much ado over where everybody would be during the tournament.

As they reached the ground, Ryoma once again took Sakuno's hand in his own and guided her, followed closely by Horio and Tomoka. They went into the terminal where they were processed through immigrations and then finally out to an awaiting limo to take them to their hotel.

"Do you guys take limos everywhere?" Tomoka asked as she ducked under the gull-wing door to enter the limo.

Already in his seat, Horio shook his head, "Only when there's a high possibility of running into reporters or paparazzi."

"Really?" Sakuno asked, intrigued as she settled into her seat beside Ryoma.

"Yeah, like that night we ran to your place, we'd taken the subway to the coliseum," Horio informed as Tomoka sat down next to him.

Maybe Ryoma was more normal than she'd been giving him credit for Sakuno thought as Ryoma placed his arm around her shoulders. So...much...touching today. Sakuno felt like she had the first time they met when he'd been constantly playing with her hair or touching her in one way or another. It was making her hyper-sensitive to him.

"So, Echizen wants me to forewarn you girls we might run into reporters when we arrive at the hotel," Horio said.

"Yeah, we know," Tomoka replied, "Why do you think we were getting fixed up before we got off the plane?"

Horio shrugged as Tomoka crossed her arms over her chest and sat back against her seat. Sakuno let out a small sigh and played with the end of a strand of her hair. Tomoka had curled it into perfectly soft waves down her back and pinned her bangs over her forehead and off to the side with a hidden bobby pin.

"Everything okay?" Ryoma whispered through her hair into the side of her ear.

She nodded and kept her eyes in her lap watching her perfectly manicured finger curl the end of her hair.

Tomoka and Horio were involved in some private conversation, and the two of them could hear their low murmurs from across the limo's seating area, but it was obvious the group talk was over.

"It's about 20 minutes to get to the hotel," Ryoma offered.

Again, Sakuno nodded, keeping her head down looking at her lap. Ryoma was getting frustrated. Why wouldn't she talk to him? He glanced across the limo to the cozy scene Horio and Horio's girlfriend made, curled up against each other speaking in low tones and for the first time in his life, Ryoma envied something Horio had that he didn't.

A devoted girlfriend.

He'd never had interest in dating before. Sure, he admired the beautiful girls that flounced their way past him all the time, but he didn't like talking to them or spending time with them. They were all  _very annoying_. He knew someday he wanted a family, so he always knew eventually he'd need to find a girl that didn't annoy him to settle down with. He'd always considered it to be a far off goal that he'd worry about when he couldn't play tennis all the time anymore. He never realized that having a girlfriend could be an enjoyable experience. His parents got along fairly well, but his old man had always been an annoying pervert who's only redeeming quality in his eyes was that he owned when it came to playing tennis, and Ryoma wanted to beat him so badly it burned inside of him. His mom was fun and outgoing, she took good care of him and kept his old man in line for the most part, but he'd never really seen them interacting the way Horio and Horio's girlfriend interacted. He certainly had no idea things like kissing were so amazing. Maybe that was a good thing though, because then he might not have met Sakuno.

He stared down at her curling her hair around her finger in her lap and wondered if she thought being his girlfriend was enjoyable. Sure, he was a good-looking guy, after all, he was named sexiest man alive, so that had to count for something. Sure he had plenty of money and nobody beat him at tennis, but was that enough for a girl like Sakuno? She was impressed with his tennis, and she ooohed and ahhhed over things he owned like the temple and his airplane, but he had a feeling that was just because she knew a nice thing when she saw it - that is, it didn't mean that was what  _she_  was looking for. After all, her apartment had been almost a penthouse, so it wasn't like she was lacking when he'd met her. She'd even tried to push away his offers to pay for things for her. As far as physical things went, he couldn't figure her out. One minute she was happily rubbing her arms down his chest and kissing him and the next minute she wouldn't even look at him and kept a distance away from him.

He dropped his head back against the chair and squeezed his eyes shut. This wasn't the time to psycho-analyze his is it real, is it not real, who wants it to be real or not relationship he had with Sakuno. He was exhausted, he probably wasn't thinking clearly, he had reporters and a long, intense two weeks ahead of him filled with massive amounts of pressure to stay on top. Why was he thinking about her?

She was right there sitting next to him, looking beautiful, smelling like a fresh summer day, her skin felt like warm silk beneath his fingers, and she wouldn't look at him or talk to him,  _that's why_.

"So what do you want to do while we're here in Australia?" He asked quietly as he lifted his head back up.

Finally, she turned her head and looked at him with surprised eyes, "I'm going to watch Ryoma play tennis."

His chest jerked for a second with silent amusement, "We're going to be here for a little over two weeks, and I won't be scheduled to play every day."

Her eyebrows rose, "Really?"

He nodded, "During the two weeks of the tournament, I can't do too much since I still have to practice and I'll have a match about every other day, but I should have a decent amount of free time for sightseeing, provided Horio doesn't book me solid with fan events and endorsements."

"It won't be a problem for us to be out?" She asked.

Ryoma shook his head, "The point is for us to be seen out together doing stuff couples do."

She looked down at her lap again, "Oh. Of course, I forgot."

The hope bubble she'd been nurturing of Ryoma wanting to go out with her burst as she realized this was all for show.  _Of_ _course_ _it_ _was_ _all_ _for_ _show._  It's not like he'd  _really_  asked her to be his  _real girlfriend_ , had he? Even if he touched her and kissed her when they were alone - it didn't mean he really wanted her there, did it? Didn't it just mean she was there because she had to be, and so he was making the best of it?

Putting his face into her neck he said, "If you'd rather, we can just stay in the hotel and get to know each other better, that would be okay too."

Sakuno flushed at his innuendo and quietly whined, "Don't tease me."

He crossed his far arm over her front and grabbed her far hip, curling himself around the front of her and placed his forehead against hers. Both of them watched her hands clench into her dress on her lap as he said, "Who says I'm teasing."

Sakuno's breath hitched and she took in a deep breath of Ryoma's very sexy male scent. He was surrounding her with himself and it was overwhelming her senses. She didn't know if she should grab him push him onto the floor of the limo and jump on top of him, or scream for him to get out of her personal space.

"Reporters!" Horio announced as the limo slowed to a stop.

In a flash, Ryoma was no longer surrounding her, and instead sitting next to her, as if nothing had just happened, "How many?"

Horio and Tomoka were craning their necks to see if they could get a count of how many there were as their driver got out of the car and went around the back to open up the door for them.

"Less than 20, I think," Horio finally said.

"Horio, Horio's girlfriend, you two go out first," Ryoma instructed.

"Okay, Echizen," Horio replied as he pushed Tomoka towards the door at the small of her back and moved behind her.

As the door opened, the couple stepped out to a flash of lights and shouting questions of who was arriving.

Sakuno moved to exit behind them, but Ryoma pulled her back into the seat. She turned to give him a questioning look, that was instead met with Ryoma's lips giving her a hot, claiming kiss. Sakuno moaned as she leaned her hands against his shoulders. Oh...he hadn't kissed her this intensely since...well...since their ride to the bank in Tokyo. Her mind spun as she recalled how emotional things had been that day. After a few fervid moments, she broke away and whispered, "What's wrong?"

Ryoma's eyes bored into her as he panted for breath, "Nothing."

She frowned and her eyes narrowed, "That wasn't nothing."

He stared into her eyes, piercing into her soul and she stared back in wonder at his intensity.

"Ryoma..."

"Are you guys coming or what?" Horio's annoyed voice came through the open door.

Ryoma cupped the side of her face with his hand and pulled her down for another brief kiss, this one gentle, comforting, "Later," He promised.

He moved in front of her and exited the car. Sakuno noted immediately the excitement level of the reporters triple with shouts of 'Ryoma' 'Ryoma,' the flashing of the cameras almost blinded her and she was still in the car. She watched as Ryoma's arm reached back into the car for her. She put her hand in his warm firm grip and he pulled her forward into the bright flashing lights.


	14. It's a Circus

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

**Important Author's note:**

In this chapter you will see the Japanese phrase:  **Kaeru-no ko-wa kaeru**. Which literally translates to: frog's child is a frog. I.e. the Japanese version of the English proverb, 'the apple does not fall far from the tree.'

* * *

"SAKUNO!" The reporters burst out in excited yells as Sakuno blinked back tears from the flashing of lights surrounding her in every direction.

"Don't say a word, don't nod, don't shake your head, just smile, and keep hold of my hand," She heard Ryoma whisper into her ear, as she obediently smiled into the flashing lights.

Then they were moving forward, and Sakuno didn't think she'd ever been so confused in all her life. She couldn't see, and she suddenly appreciated why she always saw celebrities wearing sunglasses. She wished she had hers on right now. She squeezed onto Ryoma's hand, terrified of losing his guidance as people pressed in on all sides of them. Ryoma held onto her hand tightly as he pulled her up against his side. They slowly pushed through the crowd as they walked a few steps and Sakuno's vision began to clear.

They passed through the throng of people yelling her given name to her and yelling to Ryoma, asking all sorts of questions she didn't understand because they were speaking in rapid English. Finally she saw through the flashing lights the hotel's glass doors directly in front of her with the large H for Hilton emblazoned on them. There were no reporters inside the hotel, Horio was holding open the door and Tomoka was just inside the door, watching them, surrounded by security guards, ready to keep the reporters out of the building on their behalf, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Ryoma's free arm shot out in front of her and took the door from Horio and then he was guiding her into the building, leaving the reporters behind.

"Mr. Echizen, we have your suites prepared for you and your guests," The hotel's manager greeted them in English.

"Thank you," Ryoma said to the manager.

Sakuno understood Ryoma's thanks and that the manager was addressing Ryoma, but she wasn't sure what he'd just said. Everybody was speaking so quickly it was all she could do to pick up a word or two! She assumed it had to do with getting them checked into their rooms and made a mental note to get back into her English language studies ASAP. She watched as a bellhop rolled past them with their luggage, no doubt on his way up to their room as well.

Ryoma gripped her hand and whispered, "Don't look back at them." Just as she was thinking about looking back out of the hotel's glass doors towards the reporters, wondering if they'd all left or not.

She bit her lip to keep from letting out a nervous giggle in front of the hotel staff as Ryoma whispered again, "They're still there, trust me, I've looked back enough times to know."

She bit her lip harder, making sure not to crack up at his commentary, and shot him a look conveying to him that he needed to be quiet if he didn't want her to burst out laughing.

Ryoma smirked at her, and gave her hand a squeeze as they followed the manager up to their suites. They stopped a few floors from the top, where Horio and Tomoka were given a room key and room number. The couple disappeared into the hallway as the elevator closed and continued to ascend towards the top floor where the manager escorted Ryoma and Sakuno out. They walked down the hallway a few steps before the manager pulled out another key, put it in the door and opened the door to a large suite for them.

Sakuno moved into the room and walked to the windows to admire the view as Ryoma received their luggage and keys, and gave tips. Sakuno heard them speaking a bit in English, but she didn't understand, so she paid it no mind.

The Melbourne city skyline was sparkling in all it's night lights glory and Sakuno was overwhelmed with a sense of awe at how large the world was and that she would soon see much more of it. As the door closed and they were finally alone, she turned from the window and smiled at Ryoma, "It's beautiful."

"I always enjoy coming here every year. This is one of my favorite tournaments," He shared as he sat on the sofa and slipped his shoes off.

Sakuno watched Ryoma flex his toes after he took his shoes off and then turned back to look out the window again, "So when does the tournament start? It's not tomorrow, is it?"

"The qualifiers have been at it for a few days, but the tournament starts on Monday," Ryoma answered.

She turned and faced him again. "So what are we going to do tomorrow?" She asked.

He rubbed his eyes with his hand and threw his head back on the sofa while answering, "Press conference, interviews, some practice out on the courts here. My first match will be on Monday, after that I'll have a match roughly every other day until the end of the tournament, with three days between the semifinal and the final match."

Sakuno could feel the waves of stress coming off of him and moved to stand against the back of the couch. She put her hands on his shoulders and tried to rub away the stress in little circles, "Is it always this stressful?"

Crap, Ryoma thought. How to answer that? He didn't want to make her feel bad by telling her the truth, that no, generally speaking tournaments weren't much of a stress at all. In fact, he looked forward to them, especially the Australian Open which was notorious for throwing in contestants he'd never played before, which always got him excited. The press conferences, interviews and time spent signing autographs were a bit taxing on his patience, but he'd learned to take in all in stride over the years. His stress this trip was almost entirely due to the People magazine article and ensuing paparazzi, dating claims and having Sakuno and her friend added to his entourage storm that had followed it. He simply wasn't used to it yet, but worse was that he wasn't looking forward to all the questions he didn't know how to answer yet that were already being thrown at them about their relationship. This was all new territory for him. He'd seen other players go through it, but he'd wisely avoided the mess in the past, now it was being forced on him so to speak. The only benefit of it all was that he did have Sakuno with him and that was something he liked very much.

Finally, he shook his head no and said lamely, "I'm just tired."

Sakuno clicked her tongue in disapproval, "Let's go to bed then. I'm excited, but I'm tired too."

* * *

Early the next morning Ryoma and Sakuno woke to the sound of Ryoma's cell phone ringing. Burrowed under the covers together the two blinked at each other for a few seconds, before Ryoma reached his arm behind him and retrieved his cell phone from his nightstand. Burrowing back under the warmth of the covers from the blasting air conditioning he kept his eyes locked with Sakuno's as he answered, "What is it Horio."

"Echizen. Press conference in an hour, main interview room," Horio said, immediately getting to the point.

Ryoma pulled his phone away from his ear for a second, and was surprised to see it was already 10 AM local time. An hour wasn't ideally enough time to get ready and get over to the media room across the park, but he knew he didn't have a choice on this. "Fine." He tapped the off button on his phone's screen and threw the covers off, getting out of bed.

"I have a press conference in an hour," He told Sakuno as he made his way to the bathroom to shower and get ready.

Sakuno sat up in the bed, and asked his retreating back, "Am I supposed to go?"

He stopped for a second, turned back towards her partially and answered, "You can if you want, but you have to stay with Horio and Horio's girlfriend. If you get into the crowd of the reporters, it could be a pain."

She nodded and bit her lip, wondering if she should rush through going or not. She'd seen press conferences before on the TV and thought it could be kind of exciting, but she also had never considered being on the receiving end of the camera's flashes before.

Not waiting to hear Sakuno's answer, Ryoma entered the bathroom and did a quick morning routine, took a shower, and got ready for the conference. As he came out, he found Sakuno out of bed, surfing on her laptop. Seeing the bathroom was open, Sakuno rushed past Ryoma with a quick shout that she'd be ready very soon. He suppressed a laugh at her rushing about just to go to a press conference with him, but admitted to himself he was pleased that she wanted to go with him. He grabbed his phone and checked the time noting that they had about forty minutes left before he needed to be there, so that gave her a little under half an hour. Hopefully it would be enough time.

Sakuno was ready on time, though she had her hair in long wet braids down her back, she'd been able to put on a minimal amount of make-up, a cute tennis dress, large sunglasses and a visor that hid her face.

Ryoma had to admit he was kind-of impressed that she'd been able to get ready so fast. She'd done well too, she was dressed low-key which should keep her off the reporters' radar, though she looked fine for the occasion if they did notice her.

Grabbing his room key and his phone, Ryoma slipped his shoes on and motioned for Sakuno to follow. The couple was met in the main lobby by Horio and Tomoka. The group left the hotel out of the side door to avoid the reporters that were still gathered near the entrance, waiting for any of the players to make an appearance. They rushed across the foot bridge that crossed the street and got them on the path that lead to Melbourne Park where the tournament was to be held all week.

Ryoma was happy to be outside walking through the park instead of cooped up in a limo or a car, it was a nice change. He wasn't excited about the interview, so he tried to enjoy what he could of being outside with his friends. Too quickly they'd made their way to the interview room and he could feel the dread building up in his stomach.

_What would he say about Sakuno?_

Ryoma and Horio entered through the door for the interviewees and quickly stepped up to the table where Ryoma sat with the blue board plastered with sponsors behind him. Horio stood slightly to the side, out of the shot for pictures, but close enough for Ryoma to ask him questions if needed. Sakuno and Tomoka ducked off to the side of the hallway behind the security guards where they were able to see a bit of the press conference through the interviewees doorway, but were mostly out of sight and out of the way.

Within a couple of minutes, the press conference had started. Ryoma smirked at all the cameras as they snapped pictures of him and the flurry of questioning began in English.

Q: "Are you expecting another big win?"

Ryoma's mouth twitched a bit in amusement, "Yes."

Q: "Is it your plan then to take away all four Grand Slam titles again this year?"

Ryoma leaned forward into the microphone and once again gave his one word response, "Yes." He wondered if anybody there would get around to asking him something interesting.

Q: "Two days ago your manager confirmed that you're dating a Miss Sakuno Ryuzaki, has that been a distraction for you from keeping up with your training?"

Ryoma maintained a disinterested look and answered, "No, I've been training as much as always."

Q: "How long have Miss Ryuzaki and you been dating?"

Ryoma gave a smirk, "The Australian Open is one of my favorite tournaments every year because of all the new players. I'm hoping to get a match this year against someone I've never played before."

The room went silent as everyone processed that by Ryoma's reply he was stating that Sakuno was a closed topic.

A Japanese reporter towards the back stood up and said, "We've all seen you dominate the world tennis scene for the last few years, and now you've suddenly got a serious girlfriend. So my question is, are you planning on retiring soon?"

Ryoma's mouth dropped and his eyes widened in surprise as the room began to murmur with those translating into English the shocking question.

"I have no plans of retiring anytime soon!" He exclaimed, also in Japanese. He'd expected a lot of questions, but he'd never expected anyone to ask him if he was thinking of retirement at 22!

The reporter scoffed, "Forgive me Echizen-san, but that's not what it looks like to me. Everybody might not remember Samurai Nanjiro, but I do. I remember that in the peak of his career, he got married and disappeared. How does that saying go? Kaeru-no ko-wa kaeru? Ne, Echizen-san?"

Ryoma hated being compared to his father the most. It had been years since anybody had ever tried to tell him he was like him since his career had far surpassed anything his old man had achieved. This reporter was doing a damn good job of riling him up about it though, so he shook his head and fell back on his favorite saying, "Mada mada dane." Switching to English he deadpanned, "I'm nothing like my old man."

The reporter smiled knowingly showing that he believed otherwise, "How does Ryuzaki-san feel about that? How many years has she been waiting for you to quit so you can get married?"

Ryoma grabbed the microphone in front of him and stated in slow English, "Sakuno is happy to come with me and I will never retire as long as I can keep playing."

At his statement, the room erupted into a storm of questions thrown at him all at once. Ryoma tuned out everyone to focus on the disruptor of his conference. Despite the noise all he heard was the lone Japanese voice questioning him again with sound reasoning. He mentioned the friendship of his father and Sakuno's grandmother, stating somewhere that Sakuno must have become impatient of waiting for him after years of being engaged by their families. He spoke of marriage and children, once again bringing Ryoma's father into it. Confused and disturbed at what the reporter was claiming, Ryoma decided enough was enough.

"I'll see you all out on the court," He said over the noise of the room at large and standing up, he left the room with Horio on his heels.

They were met by the girls immediately, "Ryoma!" Sakuno exclaimed as she grabbed hold of his forearm, stopping him from continuing further down the hallway. "What happened?"

The four of them huddled into a small circle behind the security guards.

"The interview was a circus," Ryoma complained to the group.

"Yeah, who was that Japanese guy?" Horio asked, his tone clearly indicating he was also caught off guard by the reporter from Japan.

Ryoma shook his head, he'd never seen the man before.

"What was all that stuff about Ryuzaki's grandmother and your Dad?" Horio asked.

Ryoma shook his head again, "I have no idea."

"Someone was asking about  _my_  Grandmother?" Sakuno questioned in surprise.

"Yeah, you didn't hear him Ryuzaki?" Horio asked.

"We couldn't hear much from out here," Tomoka explained.

"There was this Japanese guy asking Echizen if he was going to retire because he was going to marry you, Ryuzaki," Horio blabbed.

Sakuno's eyes widened in disbelief, "Why would...?" Her voice trailed off as she looked to Ryoma for answers. Ryoma shrugged.

Sakuno's eyes got a determined look in them. She dropped Ryoma's arm and stomped into the press room before the rest of the group realized what she was doing. They rushed after her and came to the interviewees doorway of the room as Sakuno picked up one of the microphones off the table, stand and all.

"Sakuno! What are you doing?" Ryoma hissed from the hallway through the door.

Sakuno ignored him and with a bow to the dissipating group of reporters she took her sunglasses off, tucked them into the top of her tennis dress and declared in quick Japanese, "Excuse me. I am Ryuzaki Sakuno. Ryoma will not retire because of me. I am going to stay with him everywhere he goes. If we get married, I will continue to travel with him, if we have babies, we will continue to travel with him. It is as important to me as it is to Ryoma that he continue to play tennis. Thank you very much for your time."

The microphone made the horrible ringing sound they make when they're mistreated as Sakuno thunked it back down on the table and rushed out of the press room.

_She would never know it, but it was in that very moment, Ryuzaki Sakuno endeared herself into the hearts of tennis fans the world over._

"Ryuzaki!  _What the hell was that?_ " Horio asked her back in the hallway as the room behind them erupted once again in confusion. There was a great deal of "Who knows Japanese?" being yelled.

Sakuno bit her lip and worried over her impulsiveness to protect Ryoma from ridicule about his career for her sake. _Did she just make a big mistake?_

With a raging fiery inferno of emotion taking hold of him and threatening to combust in his chest, Ryoma grabbed Sakuno and yanked her into a near-by facility room. Slamming the door behind them, he yanked the visor off her head, dropped it on the floor, wrapped his arms around her, pulled her as tightly as possible against his body and kissed her hotly.

He'd never, ever,  _ever_  felt this strongly before about  _anything_  except winning at tennis.


	15. Watch Out

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

Horio and Tomoka stood side by side in the hallway staring dumbly at the facility room door their friends had just disappeared behind.

"What just happened?" Tomoka asked.

Horio glanced at her and gave her a knowing grin. "It's one of two things. Those two," He pointed two fingers at the room's door, "Are either fighting, or getting bizzz-zay!"

Tomoka gave Horio a scandalized look, "Satoshi!"

Horio shrugged and took a step closer to the door, leaning his ear in it's general direction he whispered, "I don't hear yelling, so...hehehehehe."

Tomoka's eyes widened with intrigue. Unable to help herself, she leaned towards the door and inclined her ear to hear what was happening behind it as well.

They couldn't hear a thing.

"I don't think anyone has ever done something like that for Echizen," Horio shared.

Tomoka gave the door a penetrating look as she thought for a few minutes, "Sakuno told me it's complicated, but," She paused and giggled, "I think those two might just be meant for each other!"

Horio nodded, "I should have dragged Echizen to Japan and introduced them a long time ago. It only took a few minutes of being with them to see it. I've never seen Echizen so interested in anything besides tennis. Did Ryuzaki tell you they had met earlier that day in the coliseum?"

"No way! I always told Sakuno to meet some rich guy there," Tomoka shared.

Horio gave her a disapproving look.

"What?" Tomoka asked innocently.

* * *

Inside the room, Ryoma had Sakuno pinned against the wall with her legs wrapped around him as he trailed hot kisses down her neck and chest. He had both hands as far under her tennis skirt as possible, wrapped around her bum, moving them back and forth along the bottoms of her bare upper thighs with rough possessive hands.

Sakuno was panting as she held onto Ryoma's shoulders to keep herself from falling down. She felt so... _consumed_. All she knew was the feeling of Ryoma engulfing her with his being. She couldn't even form a coherent thought, as she was completely caught up in the sensations.

He moved his lips from her chest back to her mouth and gave her a searing kiss, pulling away he took a deep breath and caught her dazed eyes, "Why," He panted, "Why did you say that?"

Sakuno gave him a dreamy blink and slurred, "S-say what?"

He grabbed a hand full of the soft flesh of her behind and placed his forehead against hers. Between breaths he panted out, "That," Pant, "Speech."

Sakuno didn't know what he was talking about, she still couldn't think properly, so she pushed her lips against his again in a needy kiss.  _Why was he talking when the kissing was so amazing?_

After a few seconds, Ryoma pulled away, "Did you mean it?"

Sakuno blushed with embarrassment, "Ryoma, I can't barely think when you've been kissing me like this. Mean what?"

He looked down for a second and gave their chests a wry smile. He didn't know if he should be flattered or not by her comment. She'd said some pretty big stuff to  _the whole world_  and couldn't talk about it minutes later, but blamed it on the kissing. Okay...so maybe he should be flattered...

He shook his head, "Mada mada dane."

He supposed, that was enough...for now.

After all...she probably meant it...right? She'd already promised to stay with him, hadn't she?

He let go of her legs and let her slide them back down to the ground as he nuzzled her neck. She slid her arms up from his shoulders to the back of his head and held onto him as they both caught their breaths. Her fingers combed through the hair at the nape of his neck. She'd never felt so comfortable touching him. Her coherent thoughts finally coming back to her Sakuno said, "Ryoma."

"Hn," He acknowledged into her neck, keeping his hands on her hips.

"What just happened?"

He playfully bit the soft flesh between her neck and shoulder. She squeaked in surprise and dropped her hands from his head to her sides as he said, "Nothing."

He rubbed his hands up her sides, around her arms and up to her shoulders and then back down to her hands. Taking a step back from her, he took one of her hands and tugged her back towards the door, stopping only for a second to pick up her discarded visor.

Opening the door they were once again reunited with Horio and Tomoka, both of them wearing knowing looks. Horio raised an eyebrow at Ryoma, " _Well then_...shall we get out of here?"

Ryoma gave a nod, Sakuno flushed red and the group headed out of the building.

"So now what are we going to do?" Tomoka asked as the four ambled across the footbridge that took them through the park and back towards the Hilton.

"Let's get some lunch," Horio suggested.

"Yes! Can we go downtown? I was reading up on Queen Victoria Market this morning on the laptop, I'd really like to go there," Sakuno said.

* * *

Later that evening, Sakuno and Tomoka were busy getting ready together in Sakuno and Ryoma's suite. They were scheduled to make social appearances that evening for endorsement opportunities for Ryoma, and thus the girls were making sure they'd look their best. It was the first time the girls had been alone together since they'd left Japan.

"So Sakuno, you and Ryoma-sama are going to get married, have babies and still travel around the world so Ryoma-sama can play tennis, huh?" Tomoka teased.

Sakuno flushed, "I really said all that, didn't I?"

"OH yeah,  _you said that_. It doesn't sound like you two are very complicated," Tomoka added.

She had just...wanted to protect him. There'd been this part of her that had compelled her to do something, say something, anything that would reassure Ryoma's fans that she would be his number one supporter. That he would never quit tennis for her, that she would never ask that of him. Especially since, well, she was only his fake girlfriend anyway. Not that anybody else knew that. Well, even if she _really was_  his girlfriend, that's what she would do. Ryoma wasn't just a tennis player,  _he was tennis_ , there was no way she would ever ask him to stop playing.  _Why was she even thinking about that?_

Sakuno shook her head in wonder, "I don't know anything anymore."

"Aww! You're in love!" Tomoka cooed.

Sakuno didn't know if she should refute it or not, and decided on letting Tomoka believe what she wanted to believe. It would be worse for people to think she didn't love him than to think that she did, right?

She definitely didn't love him. Did she? She remembered the heated encounters they'd had in privacy the last 24 hours and wondered at herself.  _Who was this new Sakuno exactly?_  Ryuzaki Sakuno certainly wasn't the kind of girl that swooned.

Oh, but she felt like she was swooning right now. Swooning big time and fast. She didn't even care that being with Ryoma included reporters jumping out of nowhere to snap pictures of them while they were out and about, like they had that afternoon in the Queen Vic Markets. Nope...she was feeling pretty happy with her life at the moment, which was a new feeling. She'd always been rather content, but this... _happiness_  was new. It...wasn't love though.  _It just couldn't be._

Smiling at her best friend Sakuno waited for Tomoka to give final approval on her outfit, hair and make-up before the girls went down to Horio and Tomoka's room to meet up with the guys. Since they were all dressed up, they hired a driver, and within minutes, they were at their destination.

The Grand Slam Oval of Melbourne Park had been transformed into a festive night club with tents, djs, bars, flat screen tvs and security detail swarming. The media were also on site with their large cameras, video cameras, microphones and reporters rushing about reporting about the event.

As the group exited their limo, they were greeted by screams of adoring fans, camera flashes and the general hoopla of a celebrity arriving on the scene of a large public event. Sakuno quickly tucked into Ryoma's side as they made their way down the red carpet, stopped for Ryoma to say a few words, posed for a picture and then made their way into the main large tent onsite.

Inside the tent Ryoma and Horio were whisked off to speak business prospects and the girls were left to their own devices in their wake. Grinning at each other, the young women headed to the bar first and ordered drinks, grabbing a seating area for themselves, they settled and drank their beverages as they listened to the music. Before long the two girls were on the makeshift dance floor that had been set in the grass, enjoying their night out. The music was great, the drinks were sweet and the warm summer night air felt amazing.

Horio was in his element. This was what he lived for! Talking business, promoting the greatest tennis player in the world - and he would totally know because he had 14 years of tennis experience. He was handing out his business card to one potential business deal after the next. What a great night!

Ryoma, on the other hand, was bored silly about 10 minutes into Horio's plan to work the room. He still didn't know why he had to do this stuff,  _wasn't the tennis enough_? Still he smirked, shook hands, and said all the winning comments Horio relied on him to deliver on queue. He wondered what Sakuno was doing, but couldn't look around the room without seeming rude, so he kept his business face on and hoped the torture would be over soon.

An hour later, Ryoma finally spotted his girlfriend. She was out dancing on the dance floor, the least likely place he would have expected her to be. She looked adorable as she moved around in tune with the beat. He watched her hips sway to and fro and admired her for a minute from across the tented area.

_What the..._

He quickly made his way to the dance floor, placed both hands on Sakuno's hips and expertly shifted her from one direction to the next.

"Ryoma!" Sakuno exclaimed in surprise at his sudden appearance and contact. She put her hands on his shoulders and fought off the blush she could feel coming.  _Ryoma was dancing with her!_ Her heart fluttered in giddy excitement. Oh, this was so  _dangerous_.

After a few seconds, he leaned into her ear and said, "If you want to dance you need to watch out for these guys."

Sakuno turned her head, looking around her immediate vicinity. Tomoka was still next to her, and there were two guys behind her looking the other way. Turning back to Ryoma, she noticed a tall blond man giving Ryoma's back a death glare, and then yelling over the music he said in English, "Nice to see you too, Echizen."

Sakuno understood his simple English greeting and realized the 'guys' Ryoma had been talking about was actually just the one blond guy.

Ryoma ignored him, and pulled Sakuno closer as she continued to sway her hips to the beat. Sakuno shot the man an apologetic look for Ryoma's rudeness.

The blond smirked. It was almost an exact imitation of Ryoma's smirk, and Sakuno's eyes widened in surprise as the man said to her in Japanese, "I'm Kevin Smith, nice to meet you."

Ryoma stopped dancing and turned both of them to the man asking in English, "What are you doing?"

Kevin grinned and replied in Japanese, "I wanted to meet your girlfriend, Echizen."

"You've met her, go away."

Kevin ignored Ryoma's dismissal and instead took Sakuno's hand and kissed the back of it while saying, "You must be Sakuno-chan."

Ryoma immediately swatted Kevin's hand away at Sakuno's blush and rebuked, "Don't call her that."

Sakuno turned to look up at Ryoma, "Is this your friend, Ryoma?"

Ryoma and Kevin both responded with no and yes at the same time.

Sakuno blinked at Ryoma in confusion for a second before she gave him a saucy smile. She turned to Kevin and struggled to say in English, "Nice to meet you, Ryoma's friend Kevin Smith. Are you from America?"

Ryoma watched Sakuno through slanted eyes as she struggled through a bit of basic English with Kevin over the loud music. He'd never really spent time with anyone before that wasn't fluent in English, and watching her make efforts to speak with his self-proclaimed rival was a strange experience. His whole family was bi-lingual, and though they spoke Japanese at home, they lived in the US and thus spoke in English more often than not. Horio too, even having grown up in Japan had apparently excelled in English and it was one of the reasons he'd been recommended to Ryoma so highly as a manager. Sakuno seemed to grasp the language decently so long as Kevin didn't speak too quickly for her, but her ability to express herself in return wasn't even half as good. He wasn't sure if that was a good quality of hers or not. It would keep their relationship more private, but it increased the likelihood that she would get sick of being out of Japan for a long time.

All too quickly, Kevin and Sakuno were laughing together. Ryoma hadn't been paying attention to what they were saying, but he hadn't wanted Kevin to talk to Sakuno in the first place. This was getting out of hand.

"Let's go, Sakuno," Ryoma said as he motioned for them to exit the dance floor. As it was, people were already staring at them. Additionally, Ryoma was about 99.9 percent positive there were pictures being taken of them as soon as he'd joined Sakuno on the dance floor. It would be on the cover of some magazine tomorrow, and hopefully they wouldn't try to spin it into something it wasn't, like saying Sakuno was cheating on him with Kevin.  _That would just be the next damn thing._

Sakuno gave Kevin a polite smile, "See you again soon, Kevin Smith."

"Count on it," Kevin replied.

"Don't," Ryoma added.

Sakuno wondered what Ryoma's problem was with the blond as he pushed the small of her back, leading her off the dance floor and over to where Horio and Tomoka were now sitting.

"Let's go," Ryoma announced to the other couple. The two obediently stood up and soon enough the whole group was back at the Hilton.

Once they were in the privacy of their room, Ryoma and Sakuno began changing into their night clothes. As Ryoma was taking his shoes off he opened with, "I didn't know you were a dancer."

Sakuno giggled as she pulled her knee up and slipped off one of her strappy sandal pumps, "Ah, well, Tomo-chan forces me to go to clubs with her at least once a month. I always suspected it was to forget about Horio-kun, but she enjoyed trying to set me up with men there too." She dropped down to her normal height on her now bare foot and raised up her other foot to slip off her other heel.

"Which never happened," Ryoma added as he pulled the knot of his tie down to loosen it and stripped it out of his collar, folding it up on the coffee table.

Sakuno shook her head as she pulled the pins from her elaborate hairstyle out, "Oh, I met plenty of guys, but I wasn't interested in dating to Tomo-chan's eternal frustration."

Ryoma couldn't help but feel pleased when she mentioned things like that. Sure, they'd started up with an unusual agreement, but things were...progressing more in the direction he'd wanted since he'd first laid eyes on her. It had taken him some time to admit it, but this afternoon he'd come to terms with his attraction to the cute brunette. He'd never liked talking to girls before, and yet the first time he'd seen her he'd approached her, and then touched her. He hadn't even known her name at that point. Later, when he'd by chance been thrown into contact with her again, he'd used his bad circumstances and deep pockets to get her into his life. He'd never realized he was so manipulative before. If that didn't mean he liked her, then hell, he didn't know what would. It was still a little hard for him to wrap his mind around wanting anything more in his life, least of all a girl, but there was something about Sakuno that made him want to attach her to his side and make sure she never left.

"Be careful of Kevin," He warned after the two finished getting ready for bed.

"Your friend from America? He likes to upset you, doesn't he?" Sakuno asked.

Got it in one. Observant little thing, wasn't she? Ryoma looked at her and gave her a knowing smirk, "Actually, he preys on women."

"Oh does he? So he's the opposite of you then?" Sakuno asked as the two of them climbed into their king size bed.

Ryoma slid over to her and leaned down, giving her a kiss, "I only prey on you."

She pushed him away at his chest as she giggled, "Whatever,  _Mr. Girls Are Annoying_."

He hovered over her, giving her a long look, "You aren't annoying."

She tried to fight it off, but finally unable to help herself, she gave him a glowing smile as her chest burned with aching need within her, "So you keep telling me."


	16. Frustration

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

* * *

The next day Ryoma had set out bright and early for the practice courts in Melbourne Park, doing last minute training before his first match of the tournament. Horio and Tomoka had decided to do some sightseeing, and had invited Sakuno to join them. Sakuno didn't want to be a third wheel for the couple though, especially since they were just starting to recover from being separated for the last few years from Horio leaving to work for Ryoma. So instead, Sakuno spent most of the day in the hotel room with Karupin as her only companion, which had been rather nice. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had time  _on her own_. She surfed the web a bit on her new laptop, rented a movie, went swimming in the outdoor pool, hit up the fitness center for a while, walked over to Melbourne Park to have lunch with Ryoma, had a few heart to heart talks with Karupin, and worked on her English.

In the mid afternoon, she was taking a bubble bath in their suite's whirlpool tub when she heard the slam of their hotel room's door, indicating Ryoma was back. She glanced at the clock in the bathroom in surprise, she hadn't anticipated him coming back so early. She wondered if she should get out of the tub right away, or call out so he would know she was in there, or what.

She just knew she should have locked the bathroom door, she thought in irritation at herself as the bathroom door swung open.

"Hey," Ryoma greeted from the doorway. He kept one hand on the handle of the door and put his other hand against the doorway.

Sakuno flushed a bit in embarrassment as she slunk further into the water. She was super grateful for the bubbles in the water preventing Ryoma from seeing more than he ought to see of her body.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I need to be well rested for tomorrow," He explained.

Tomorrow being his first match.  _Of course_. Well rested, he says. _A likely excuse for walking in on her in the bath._ Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

She pulled her hands out of the water through the bubbles and waved them around herself, "I meant what are you doing in  _here_? I'm taking a bath."

He gave her a naughty smirk, "Yes, I can see that."

She dropped her hands back under the water and mumbled, "Pervert."

"I can't get in there with you?"

She covered her face with her hands as she felt herself blushing from head to toe and whined, "You're teasing me again!"

He slipped his sneakers off and took off his shirt, dropping it on the floor, "I'm serious."

Sakuno blinked for a second at his abs with her mouth dropped open in shock.

"I..."

He closed the lid on the toilet and sat down to strip off his socks.

Sakuno shook her head in disbelief. He simply had to be bluffing, right? There was no way he was going to strip down and join her in the bath, was there? It wasn't a large public hot spring, it was a whirlpool tub! Besides, she didn't go in the co-ed ones and besides...she was completely naked under the bubbles! She watched in horror as he stood back up and moved his arms to his waist to slide off his shorts.

In a panic, Sakuno covered her eyes and yelled, "Wait! I don't think this is a good idea!"

Ryoma snickered at Sakuno as he wrapped a small towel around his hips and slipped into the tub opposite her, "You're right, this is a  _great idea_. I'm tired."

Sakuno gasped as she felt his legs brush up against hers under the water as he settled in. The water rose, swirled around them and resettled.  _What was he doing to her?_  She peeked through her fingers and saw Ryoma leaned back against the other side of the tub, his arms rested on the edges, eyes closed as he let the jets work on his muscles.

Sakuno dropped her hands back into the water and stared at him in wonder. How? How was he able to act so cool about this?  _They were taking a bath together!_  She could feel his lower legs wrapped around the outside of her naked body! It made her mind swim with all sorts of naughty thoughts that she  _definitely shouldn't_  be thinking. That she definitely didn't want to be thinking... _right?_  She crossed her arms over her breasts under the water and sighed with frustration.

Ryoma had kept his eyes barely cracked open and watched Sakuno's expressions change from shock and horror to frustration and held back his smirk to maintain his cool façade. He definitely needed to keep up the act like this wasn't a big deal or he might actually see her...angry. Wet, naked, angry Sakuno...okay...so that prospect made him more excited than it should. After all, she could kill him, right? Getting killed by his girlfriend the day before his first match of the Australian Open wouldn't exactly be his best move...

He was thinking  _what exactly_  when he decided that jumping into the bath with her was a good idea? He moved his back slightly, changing where the jets were massaging out his tired muscles. He had trained intensely today in preparation for tomorrow's first big match.

That's right...the  _Australian Open_  was starting tomorrow he berated himself. Oh, he really shouldn't let his guard down and get distracted by the girl he was living with...why'd she have to be in the bath when he got back? Why'd he decide when he'd heard the whirlpool jets running to go ahead and disturb her and then been unable to resist jumping into the tub with her?

_It had just looked way too damn inviting._

He closed his eyes for a second and tried to regroup his thoughts. This was supposed to be  _relaxing_. Relax, relax. Nothing but  _relaxing_. Definitely not  _exciting_. Definitely. Not...

He opened his eyes and looked at Sakuno. She had her mouth open slightly and was taking in short breaths while openly staring at his shoulders. All right,  _that_  didn't help him relax. He closed his eyes again and tried to will away his wayward thoughts. He wasn't going to think about the naked girl his legs were wrapped around. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Unable to resist, he opened his eyes again slightly and watched Sakuno's eyes as they roved over his exposed shoulders and arms. She licked her dry lips and then looked up at him. As their eyes met, he heard her breath hitch. Slowly, he maintained eye contact as he dipped his right hand under the water and touched her bent kneecap. She held her breath for a second as he moved his hand under her knee and massaged the soft flesh there. Her legs felt soft and smooth and he rubbed his way down her calf as she opened her mouth and started taking in quick, shallow breaths. He kept his eyes on hers, waiting, watching for a warning as he rubbed his hand back up her calf and under her knee again. He moved his other hand under the water and mimicked the same rubbing motion on the underside of her other knee. She closed her eyes and dropped her head back against the tub's edge as a soft moan escaped her throat. Encouraged, he slid forward a bit, getting closer to her and rubbed his hands down the tops of her thighs.

She felt way too good, he thought as he was flooded with the desire to rub every soft, smooth part of her. He continued to rub slowly down her thighs...close...

Her eyes flew open and met his with a pleading warning in them and his hands froze. He noticed she had both of her hands gripped around the edges of the tub, white knuckled with the pressure of holding on way more tightly than was necessary. When had she done that? Had he really been too distracted to notice?

"Ryoma," She breathed. It sounded like a plea for mercy.

Slowly and deliberately, he dragged his hands back up her legs to her kneecaps and removed them completely from her legs. He watched the bubbles covering her chest heave with her quick breaths and glanced up into her wide eyes. Shifting his body back against the other side of the tub, he thunked his head against the edge and closed his eyes, "Just relax," He said.

_Damn._

* * *

The first day of the tournament was hot and sunny and Ryoma became completely immersed in the competition. He had a match every other day and spent the majority of the rest of the time on the practice courts keeping up with his training, desperate to keep his mind in the game and not on the new female complication in his life. Sakuno stayed by his side, bringing lunches, sipping ponta with him and cheering for him as he played each match. Despite everything being new she seemed to easily hold up her end of their agreement that she stay with him to keep the gossip down. Still, the paparazzi relentlessly followed the couple around, but they paid them no mind and kept to their simple routine.

Horio and Tomoka were also present on the match days, and toured around Melbourne on the days Ryoma practiced. They continued to invite Sakuno, but Sakuno had been resolute about staying with Ryoma all the time.

The world saw a young couple that were obviously in love. A woman that was very devoted to their beloved Tennis Prince, and many fans devoured greedily every cute picture a paparazzi could manage to snap of the pair, especially if it involved any form of PDA. What the world didn't see, was that they'd returned to Sakuno giving Ryoma her back again as they got into bed each night. What they didn't see was the lack of kissing and touching in private.

_What they didn't see was their prince struggling with conflicting emotions about this new part of his life that he wanted more from with each passing day._

The first weekend of the tournament Ryoma was scheduled to play on Sunday. It was the 4th round, provided he won he'd be in the quarterfinals. Not that he had any doubts about winning the tournament without contest. He'd been slaughtering his opponents on the courts all week, more than happy to take out his frustrations on them. Statistically, he was playing the best tournament of his life, but it was fueling the rumor that he may retire soon, which in turn caused Ryoma to battle against his competitors with a fierceness in his play that the tennis world had never seen from him before.

He was just so  _damn frustrated._

As Ryoma was warming up for his 4th round match, Sakuno sat on the side bench of one of the practice courts, watching him send one vicious serve across the net after another. Keeping her eyes on Ryoma's form, she was startled when a cold can of grape ponta appeared before her face. She glanced up and saw it was a middle-aged man handing it to her. He had dark brown hair and eyes and was smiling down at her cheerfully.

"Long time no see, Sakuno-chan," He greeted.

Sakuno took the cold drink from his hands as he sat next to her, "Do I know you?"

The man looked taken aback for a moment, "Don't tell me you forgot your Uncle Nanjiro?"

Sakuno blinked at him.  _Eh?_

"What are you doing here old man?" Ryoma greeted, standing above the two seated on the bench, his red racquet resting on his shoulder.

"Seishounen! Nice to see you too," Nanjiro said to Ryoma.

Ryoma stared silently at him.

Nanjiro scratched the back of his head as he stood up, "Don't forget I'm still technically your coach."

Sakuno watched in awe as the two stood side by side staring at each other. 'Uncle Nanjiro' was clearly older and had different features than Ryoma, but there was no missing that the mannerisms of the two men were practically identical. They stood the same way, they glared with the same look in their eyes, and their combined presences made Sakuno feel almost as if there were two of Ryoma in front of her.

She had no idea what was going on though, and figured it was none of her business. She looked down at the cold soda in her hand and flipped the tab on it. It cracked open and purple bubbles fizzed a bit over the top. She took a quick sip and then looked back up at the men.

Ryoma was now staring at her ponta so she held the can up to him. He took it from her hand, took a large swig and let out a big sigh of satisfaction before handing it back to Sakuno.

"Fine," Nanjiro said, breaking the silence. "Your mother sent me."

Ryoma turned his attention back to the older man.

"We all know you haven't been yourself all week."

Ryoma slightly moved the brim of his cap.

Nanjiro put one of his hands on Ryoma's shoulder, "Seriously Ryoma. What's got you playing like you want to kill somebody? Did you forget the joy?"

Ryoma shook his head.

Nanjiro put his hands on his hips and let out a big sigh. Moving to the tennis bag on the bench, he unzipped the bag, withdrew Ryoma's spare and moved towards the far end of the court, "Fine. Have it your way, I'll beat it out of you."

Sakuno's jaw dropped open in shock as Nanjiro served the ball to Ryoma. The ball moved so quickly she couldn't even see it, and Ryoma missed the return.

"Remember that?" Nanjiro asked.

Ryoma grunted as he retrieved the ball and served the ball back with force, but Nanjiro easily returned it. They volleyed for a few minutes, the ball flying across the net so fast that Sakuno gave up on trying to keep track of it. Finally, Ryoma missed again.

"You're better than this," Nanjiro chided as Ryoma fetched the ball and served again.

They volleyed back and forth again several times, each time Ryoma finally missed and served the ball back fiercely. Finally, after half an hour, Ryoma grinned happily as Nanjiro missed a return.

Nanjiro served the ball back and called across the court, "That's more like it, tennis champ!"

Ryoma returned the ball with a mischievous smile and Nanjiro missed again.

"Where'd you learn that one?"

Ryoma nodded his head in Sakuno's direction, "Sakuno's friend Fuji-san."

"I see." Nanjiro said, "I knew we should have moved to Japan for middle school. Sounds like the old hag is still at it."

Ryoma quirked an eyebrow at the strange comment. He only knew one person his old man referred to as an old hag. Was his old man talking about Sakuno's grandmother again?

"That should do it," Nanjiro announced. He started to make his way off the court.

"You scared, old man?" Ryoma taunted.

Nanjiro paused. His chest puffed out as he turned back to his son and gave him the smile of a proud father.

"It's not time yet, Seishounen."

Ryoma closed his eyes for a moment. Fine.

The two made their way back to the bench Sakuno was sitting on and Nanjiro put the spare racquet back in Ryoma's bag.

"So kids, your mother is dying to know when the big day is going to be."

"What big day?" Ryoma asked.

Nanjiro smirked, "Don't be coy Ryoma, it's not cute."

Ryoma shot Nanjiro a death glare.

Nervous and confused Sakuno jumped in, wanting somehow to keep the peace their smiles had brought, "We haven't talked about it."

Nanjiro gave her a strange look and then sat down next to her taking her hand into both of his own he gave her hand a pat, "Sakuno-chan, if my stupid son has a problem with commitment, you just tell your Uncle Nanji all about it."

Sakuno pulled her hand out of Nanjiro's hands, "What?" He was  _Ryoma's father?_  Her eyes flew up to Ryoma's looking for confirmation.

"Dad. Stop scaring my girlfriend," Ryoma deadpanned.

Nanjiro howled with laughter, "Your  _girlfriend? That's it?_  Wait until your mother hears about this! The two of you have been together for  _how many years?_   _Sixteen? Seventeen?_ Heck, maybe we should just say twenty-two? Rinko and I didn't even know you two had kept in contact until she saw a picture of you guys kissing on the cover of a gossip magazine. I suppose that's what we get for having a son that's free to roam all over the world on his own from a young age. Still, you mean to tell me you haven't talked about getting married yet? Even though you told us you're moving back to Japan and you've finally told the world that  _she exists?_  What other reason could the two of you have for  _that?_  If Sakuno-chan hadn't been the one to say so, I'd never believe it."

Barely pausing for breath, he stood up and put a hand on Ryoma's shoulder, "Kid. For your own sake, pick a date before you come back to New York. Your mother will be  _furious_  with you if you come home and you haven't made an honest woman out of Ryuzaki's cute granddaughter by then."

Ryoma and Sakuno were both giving Nanjiro stunned looks.

_What?_

He gave them both a wave, "Get to your match, kid. See you two soon in New York."

Ryoma collected himself together enough to yell out to his father's retreating back, "That's it? You flew all the way to Australia just for that?"

He turned around and gave Ryoma a thumbs up, "Oh. Knock 'em dead Samurai Junior!"

"Don't call me that!" Ryoma yelled back.  _Samurai Junior!_  Yeah...like maybe when he was  _twelve_. GRR.

Nanjiro gave a slight wave over his shoulder in acknowledgement.

Ryoma angrily shoved his racquet into his tennis bag and zipped it up as he growled under his breath in English about how his perverted father was probably going to spend the rest of the week in strip clubs.

Sakuno's mind swirled in mass confusion from the whole encounter. What had just happened?  _What had Ryoma's father been talking about?_  Was he out of his mind? Was he teasing because Ryoma had never had a girlfriend before?

_Why did he talk like they already knew each other?_


	17. Now and Later

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

* * *

After Ryoma's 4th round match the couple walked silently back to their hotel room. Ryoma had been almost a different person on the court that afternoon than Sakuno had seen all week and she knew it had to do with Ryoma's father coming to coach him. She mused over their strange father-son relationship they had and remembered Ryoma's comment that there was someone out there he still wanted to beat at tennis. She was positive now that Ryoma had to have been referring to his father. She had so many questions for him, she almost didn't know where to begin.

They entered their room and Ryoma flopped onto the bed.

"So...Ryoma? Do you know what your father meant about us being together for sixteen or seventeen years?" She asked as she sat down on the bed next to him.

Ryoma flung his arm over his eyes and groaned, "That old man is  _crazy_."

"So you don't know what he was talking about either?" She asked.

Ryoma shook his head. He dropped his arm next to his side and met her eyes, "He  _had_  to be messing with us."

Sakuno scrunched up her face in confusion, "I don't know. It was really weird what he said though, right?"

Ryoma shrugged, "He's always weird. Don't worry about what he said."

"I'm worried about it."

Ryoma huffed and repeated, "You don't need to worry about it."

"But what about what he said about your mom?" Sakuno persisted.

"What about it?"

She slapped her hands on the mattress in frustration at his attempts to dodge her questions. "He said we couldn't go to New York unless we were getting  _married!_  What are we going to do about  _that?_ "

Ryoma sat up, "He said my mother would be furious unless we were getting married, he didn't say anything about not being able to  _go_  to New York."

"Now you're just playing with semantics! What-"

He interrupted her, " _What_? You want to get married now?"

Startled at his question, Sakuno blushed and moved back from him a bit. Whaaaa?

What was that supposed to mean? Her chest felt like it was swelling up as her mind spun, her heartbeat pounded a frantic rhythm, and her ears rang with echos of his question.

_...You want to get married now?_

_...Married?_

_...Do you want?_

_...Married now?_

Oh...oh...oh...oh my...

_Was he proposing?_

Oh...um...oh...

Wait, wait,  _wait!_  Her sensibilities screamed to her as they started to catch up with her furiously pounding heart and spinning thoughts. There's _no way_  she should take that  _seriously_ , right?

So he was... _kidding?_

Not. Funny.

Ugh, either way,  _how was she supposed to respond to a question like that?_

Sakuno stared at him for a long time in silence, hoping he would give her a clue if he was serious or not. Ryoma stared back at her frustratingly blankly. It was only his undivided attention to her that kept reminding her that he was waiting for an answer.

_What was she supposed to say?_

Finally she said quietly,  _"I- I didn't say that."_

"Then don't worry about my parents."

Smarting at his quick dismissal her chest burst with emotions. Angry, confused, and frustrated with the whole conversation Sakuno exploded,  _"Fine!"_

Neither of them chose to bring it up again.

In fact, they didn't bring up anything serious at all until just before the semifinals match.

* * *

Ryoma and Sakuno were casually walking to the practice courts before the semifinals so Ryoma could warm up when Sakuno suddenly flew into the air and landed hard on the ground with a wiry red haired man on top of her.

"Uf!" Sakuno gasped for breath and blinked up in surprise through her slight tears at the face hovering over her.

"Sakuno-chaaaan!" The man exclaimed gleefully.

Sakuno gasped again for breath as he disappeared from her view and his weight left her. Ryoma had yanked him off of her while growling,  _"Get off of my girlfriend!"_

Toyama Kintaro briefly glanced at Ryoma, who held his collar threateningly and then looked back down at Sakuno still sprawled on the ground. He put his hand down for Sakuno to take it and hoisted her up as Ryoma reluctantly released his shirt, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my leg slipped."

" _Sure it did,_ Kintaro-kun," Sakuno said as she brushed the dirt off of her skirt.  _Yeah right._

Kintaro looked back and forth from Sakuno to Ryoma again a few times as the couple stood together staring at the redhead.

"You're Koshimae's girlfriend?" He asked.

What the...  _What did he just call me?_

Sakuno's eyes flew towards Ryoma and watched as he closed his eyes in irritation.

Knowing correcting him would be pointless, Sakuno just nodded her head and confirmed, "Yes. I am."

"I thought you didn't date anybody?" Kintaro asked.

Sakuno blushed in embarrassment. Oh, why did they have to run into Kintaro-kun  _of all people?_  In Australia no less? _It was so weird._  He was easily at the top of her list of boys she'd told on more than one occasion that she wasn't interested in dating anybody.

"I-I didn't, I mean..." She struggled to explain.

Kintaro looked back at Ryoma and then at Sakuno again and announced, "I'm in the tournament!"

Sakuno smiled, genuinely this time. "Wow! That's great Kintaro-kun!" She mused to herself that  _next time_  she should check the players lists more carefully. Then at least he wouldn't have caught her so off guard.

"I told you I would make it here one day, didn't I? I qualified and everything! Why are you Koshimae's girlfriend?" He asked.

Sakuno blinked. Okay, so after the number of times she'd turned him down that was honestly a valid question coming from Kintaro-kun. How to explain it to him though? "I'm-"

He interrupted her again and pointed towards Ryoma, "I'm playing him next." He turned towards Ryoma and said lowly,  _"When I beat you, I'm taking Sakuno-chan with me."_

Ryoma's eyes widened at the sudden personality change. _What the hell?_

Kintaro took Sakuno's hand gently into his own. Pulling it towards his chest she stumbled a step forward as he focused his eyes on hers. "You know I always liked you Sakuno-chan, remember I ate your omusubi?"

_Oh hell no. He was going to kill him._

Sakuno blushed again as she quickly yanked her hand out of his grasp. "Kintaro-kun-" She began scoldingly only to be interrupted this time by Ryoma.

_"Nobody beats me at tennis."_

Kintaro grinned at Ryoma, finally giving him his full attention.

"My name is Toyama Kintaro. Nice to meet you. You're _really strong_ , right? Our match-"

"No," Ryoma said.

"Whaat? But-!" Kintaro began to protest, but Ryoma interrupted him.

"Let's go Sakuno."

Sakuno suddenly felt like she missed something important. What did Ryoma mean by saying no like that? Why did Kintaro-kun understand and she didn't? Sakuno glanced between her old friend from her school days and her boyfriend and then moved to walk with Ryoma.

"See you later Kintaro-kun," She called back over her shoulder.

Kintaro watched them walk away, suddenly feeling very excited about his upcoming match.

"What was that?" Ryoma finally asked as the couple entered the practice court.

Sakuno shrugged, "Knowing Kintaro-kun? He was  _trying_  to get into your head."

Ryoma gave her a skeptical look and blurted, "He seemed too stupid for that."

Sakuno giggled. "His school used to compete against Seigaku in the nationals, and he used to do stuff like that before matches with the Seigaku team  _all the time_."

_"Stuff like that?"_  Ryoma asked. He was _definitely_ going to do more than _just kill him,_  that would be going too easy on him.

Sakuno gave a sigh of remembered frustrations, "In school, he used me to provoke the senpai-tachi. I was the coach's granddaughter, so I was... _untouchable_. If boys showed any interest in me the senpai-tachi would just get... _crazy_."

Ryoma rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Amateurs."

Sakuno shrugged. What did he expect? They were middle school kids at the time. Although...it had carried on through high school, still it had  _started_  when they'd been in middle school and grandma had been the coach.

"And he ate your food?" Ryoma asked.

She gave him a sheepish smile, "Ah, yeah...that's how it all started. I met him on my way to get ponta and he fell out of a tree and landed on me, but he saved the food. Then this guy came through on roller blades knocking the omusubi on the ground and ruined it. He ate it, even though it had been on the ground," She paused. A soft smile broke out on her face before she added, "It was kind-of sweet of him actually."

Ryoma's eyes narrowed as he suddenly understood how Sakuno's senpai-tachi felt. He didn't like this.  _He didn't like this one bit._  He moved towards her and dropped a peck on her lips, "I'm going to beat him so bad he'll go home crying."

Sakuno blinked at him, "Why-"

He kissed her again, this time lingering for a few seconds and added, "He has another thing coming to him if he thinks he can win against me and take you away."

Oh.

So that was why Ryoma had said 'no' to Kintaro-kun...and he says the senpai-tachi were  _amateurs? Ha._

She gave him a wry smile as he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close. He kissed her again and she kissed back this time, moving her arms around his shoulders she pulled him closer. After a few minutes he pulled away slightly and then leaned down to kiss her again.

Make up kisses...were very, very sweet, he decided.

* * *

Looking back on the Australian Open that year, Ryoma would recall that his favorite match had been the one with Toyama Kintaro and his odd Japanese. Referring to Ryoma as Koshimae explained a lot about how the match went. Still, he half hoped to see the weird redhead on the courts again, and figured he probably would since he'd made it to the semifinals before he'd played Ryoma and lost. All in all, he'd been a good opponent, and he didn't exactly get good new opponents everyday.

The days after the semifinals had been better all around for him and having his personal 'cheerleader' there for every match had further fueled the flame that had been burning in his chest ever since he'd ran into Sakuno the first time in Japan.  _Come with me. Be with me. Stay with me._

Sakuno though, was already complaining in private to Tomoka about being homesick. Of course, it got back to Ryoma, and so after the tournament instead of lingering in Australia the group had boarded Ryoma's plane and flown back to Tokyo.

As they arrived back at the temple Sakuno muttered, "Where is home?" She missed it, but Horio and Tomoka both caught the worried look Ryoma shot her way, as well as his quick cover up of looking away unconcerned.

Wanting to get away from the group, Ryoma had ran up the staircase to the master bedroom, flipped the light switch on and noticed papers laying on the bed.

_What the?_

He briskly walked over to the bed and picked them up, flipping through them quickly.

It was the documents needed to register your marriage in Japan.

His eyes narrowed in annoyance. Baka Oyaji!  _Was he going out of his way to scare off Sakuno or what?_

Sure Ryoma didn't know much about dating and marriage, but he knew you didn't meet someone, date them for _three weeks_  and then get  _married_. So what the hell was all this crap about marriage? He crumpled up the papers and shoved them in a small pocket in his tennis bag. He  _absolutely_   _didn't want_  Sakuno to see those.  _She'd get in another fight with him about it_.

He was grateful that at least his father hadn't stayed in the house to bother them when they got back from the Australian Open.

Ryoma spent the rest of the week training on the temple's court, getting in some tennis sessions with Sakuno and focusing all of his extra energy into making her as happy as possible. He never wanted to hear her ask depressingly where her home was again. Ever.

Sakuno on the other hand, was starting to get used to her new lifestyle. It was good to be back in Japan and as nice as her practically a penthouse apartment was, living in a house was  _infinitely_  better. She spent the bulk of her free time working in the large kitchen cooking meals for them and trying to create a masterpiece ramen of her own. She was getting used to people recognizing her as Ryoma's girlfriend when she went out, and it was getting easier. Her favorite part of each day was playing tennis with Ryoma. Her twist serve was...progressing. Sort of.

Tomoka and Horio had moved themselves into Tomoka's apartment, and Sakuno had decided she liked the cozy, intimate setting; Ryoma opened up more when it was just the two of them. Not that Horio and Tomoka weren't around often enough, as it was, the two of them stopped by at least once a day, with good reason too,  _a lot_  had been going on.

Ryoma had been on a mission to fix the house up from about day two of their brief home stay. He'd started the upgrades with large flat screen HDTVs with surround sound. (So they could watch the other tennis tournaments to keep an eye on future competition.) A new dishwasher, stove, oven, microwave, and refrigerator had all arrived the next day. (So Sakuno had a nice kitchen for cooking.) The day after that he'd surprised her with a hot tub for the backyard. (So they could soak tired muscles properly after a long day.) Today, they were discussing getting a new bed...she didn't know his excuse yet, but she was  _sure_  it would be a good one. (They always were.) Still...

"I think this is getting extremely excessive," Sakuno said after he'd asked her what kind of bed she would like.

They were standing on opposite sides of their bed, Sakuno had her arms on her hips, and Ryoma had his arms crossed over his chest. He uncrossed his arms and gestured to the bed, "My parents used to sleep in this bed."

"I don't see how that matters."

Ryoma gave her a skeptical look, "Really?"

"Really. I don't think we need a new bed. I mean, how long are you, or even both of us really going to be living here? A year? Two years? In that time, how often will we actually be here with all your tournaments?"

Ryoma shook his head, "Mada mada dane."

Her hands dropped from her hips as she wilted, "What?"

He put his hands in his pockets and gave her a penetrating look, "Think about it."

She looked down at the bed, trying to figure out what he wasn't saying.

"Sakuno."

She looked up at him again and he said slowly, "This was  _my parents'_  bed."

"So you keep telling me, but I still don't understand what's wrong with that."

Ryoma put his hands on the bed and pushed it up and down for a second before giving her a knowing look.

Sakuno took a step back.  _Was he trying to say...?_

"Oh, ew, Ryoma! Did you have to...?"

"As small as it is for two, it makes my old bed sound like a good alternative for tonight, doesn't it?"

She gave him a grossed out look, "Uhm...yeah...um... _why_  didn't you mention this sooner?"

He grimaced, "Didn't think about it before."

Sakuno pondered the idea of the two of them squished together sleeping in Ryoma's old childhood bed that night as it occurred to her that Ryoma was thinking about... _sex_...

_What did that mean?_

"So what kind of bed do you want?"

"I can't have my own bed now that Horio-kun and Tomo-chan are moved out?"

He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at her. After all, they'd had the conversation before earlier that week.

_Why did she bother fighting with him?_  He always won and half the time, he didn't even have to say anything!

"Right, right,  _I know_ , they come over too often for that anyways."

"I'm going to start thinking you don't like sleeping with me," Ryoma deadpanned.

Sakuno giggled, "There you go, teasing me again."

They were interrupted by Ryoma's cell phone ringing. He pulled it from his pocket and took the call, "What?"

"Are you kids coming here after the ABN AMRO?"

Ryoma stuffed his other hand back into his pocket and answered, "No."

"Seishounen...it's been a month and your mother is getting anxious. I will have no peace until you bring Sakuno-chan here with your marriage documents."

Ryoma met Sakuno's curious eyes across the room before he said lowly, "It's not happening."

"Ryoma...is there something wrong?"

"No."

"What's going on with you two then?"

"Nothing." Unknowingly, Ryoma made a puzzled face. His parents were always so cool about everything, so what was the deal with Sakuno? Was it because he'd never dated before and they were afraid she would run away if he didn't marry her immediately? If that was the case, they were going to be the ones to scare her off.

A month of dating didn't mean they needed to rush into marriage. Even if she made his chest burst into flames and he couldn't touch her and kiss her enough to be satisfied.  _It's not like his parents knew that._ Something like marriage could just...happen when it was supposed to happen.

_As it was_ , Sakuno  _still_  hadn't seemed to completely catch on that he saw their relationship as anything but fake. If he threw marriage on top of that, she'd probably slap him silly.

"Then, if you aren't coming after Rotterdam, are you coming after Dubai?" Nanjiro asked.

Ryoma dropped his voice and said as quietly as possible, " _Stay out of it._ "

He disconnected the call before another word could be said. Stuffing the phone back in his pocket he scratched the back of his head in frustrated confusion.  _This was getting so out of control._

His parents needed to stay  _the hell_  away from his girlfriend. Sakuno's eyes gazing across the bed at him filled with questions completely solidified that thought.

Thankfully, she didn't pry this time.

_He wasn't about to share either._

"So, the bed?"


	18. Heat

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

* * *

The group arrived in Rotterdam for the ABN AMRO to an afternoon of cloudy skies and snow. It was an eight hour time difference from the also cold, but thankfully not snowy Tokyo and the flight had been a grueling long 12 hours. The whole party was rather fatigued, even though most of them had slept at least a little bit during the long flight. Thankfully, Horio had scheduled for them to arrive a couple of days before the tournament started in order to give Ryoma time to recuperate from the travel before he had to play his 1st round match.

Despite their weariness from the travel, the girls were both fairly ecstatic to be in Europe for their first time, and they oohed and ahhed over the Dutch city as they drove to their hotel from the airport. Horio had once again booked the perfect hotel that was situated on the waterfront, yet conveniently across the waterway from the Ahoy Rotterdam where the tournament would be held. Both couples spent their first evening resting in their rooms, cuddled up watching the snow float its way to the ground through their floor to ceiling hotel room windows.

The ABN AMRO tournament involved much less hoopla than the Australian Open as far as press coverage and events. It was also over fairly quickly in comparison to the Australian Open, as it was only one week long with less rounds and not a grand slam competition. Ryoma played a match almost every day in the five total matches it took to win. The fast pace of the tournament kept all four of them on their toes. Horio and Tomoka didn't get too much sightseeing in, though with the cold and the snow they were somewhat melancholy to the experience anyways. Sakuno spent her time going back and forth with Ryoma from the hotel to the Ahoy Rotterdam tennis arena and back again. By the end of the week, Sakuno was feeling like perhaps she was quite successful at her new lifestyle, Ryoma had won yet another tournament for the calendar year and Horio and Tomoka were well rested from sleeping so much due to the cold, short winter days.

Also that week, Ryoma had received yet another disturbing phone call from his father about marrying Sakuno. He'd gone from slightly irritated and mostly confused on the subject to downright hostile and though he didn't like to admit it, just a little bit scared. He'd even gone so far as to put a block on his father's number on his phone and hoped every day his old man wouldn't jump on another airplane. At least he had it in his favor that the old man didn't like the cold, and would probably not show up in Rotterdam. Unfortunately his old man loved Dubai, which made Ryoma antsy about his next tournament.

At Horio's suggestion the whole group decided it would be better to stay in Europe for the next week since the Dubai tournament was only a week out, and the flying would be considerably less time if they simply stayed in Europe. Sakuno and Tomoka were both thrilled - sure Rotterdam had been cold, but they'd found the city to be extremely charming and were ready to see more. Tomoka had quickly demanded from Horio that they take them somewhere 'fun, romantic, and with better weather.' Horio was only too happy to oblige and even Ryoma shared a measure of enthusiasm about spending some free time sightseeing with Sakuno. So they boarded Ryoma's plane and flew to Venice to hit up the Carnevale season while it was still in full swing.

When Horio had recommended Carnevale, Tomoka had been all for it, Ryuzaki had been fairly neutral though excited about going to Venice, and Echizen had been surprisingly keen on the idea. Horio had thought he would have to twist the tennis prince's arm to get him to go party all week in Italy. He couldn't figure it out. Maybe it was Ryuzaki's influence, or maybe something else was amiss, but he made a mental note before they'd even left Rotterdam to have a little chat with the tennis champ about it. It wasn't a matter of if there was something up with Echizen, there was. He just wanted fair warning if it was a good something or a bad something so he'd be able to buffer any potential backlash.

As the girls were painstakingly getting ready for their first night out for Carnevale, the boys were left to their own devices. They settled on waiting for the girls in the lounge of their posh Venetian hotel where they sipped on scotch. Horio figured now was as good as a time as any to bring up his concerns.

"Echizen, is there anything going on you want to tell me about?" Horio opened.

Ryoma looked up from his drink at his manager, "Not really."

"You came to Carnevale without any protests. You even seem somewhat nervous about going to Dubai. That's not like you at all," Horio pointed out insistently.

Ryoma grimaced into his glass as the large chunk of ice drifted aimlessly in the amber liquid. Raising his eyes back to his friend he said, "Swear to me you won't breathe a word of this to Sakuno or your girlfriend."

Horio leaned in a little showing he understood this was a secret and lowered his voice accordingly, "I swear. So what's going on?"

"I'm hiding."

_"Hiding?"_  Horio repeated in confusion. What the? Of all the possible scenarios,  _hiding_  had been, uhm... _below zero._

"From the old man," Ryoma added.

_"Why?"_

Ryoma took a large gulp from his drink and quickly explained, "My parents are downright harassing me about getting married."

Horio made a face of disbelief, "Are you serious, man?"

Ryoma gave Horio a look that clearly said 'you think I would make this up?'

"Wow." Horio shook his head in disapproval and added, "That's messed up, I had no idea."

They both stared at the bar for a few minutes before Horio broke the silence, "So what are you going to do?"

Ryoma shrugged, "Keep Sakuno away from them."

"Why? Do you think she'll take advantage of it and rope you into getting married or something?"

Ryoma shot Horio a horrified look, "We both know Sakuno isn't the type to do that." He thought about the shocked look she'd given him in Australia when they'd fought about it and he'd flat out asked her if she wanted to get married. Then he mumbled, "She'll leave me."

"Riiight," Horio dragged out as he spotted the girls enter the bar. He shook his head at his friend's denseness as he watched Sakuno's eyes light up when she spotted Ryoma across the room. That was _definitely not_  the look of a woman that would leave a guy if he asked her to marry him.  _Sheesh._

As the girls made their way over to them Horio turned to face them and put a hand back on Ryoma's shoulder, giving it an encouraging squeeze as he said, "I don't think you have to worry about that." He shook his head again and gave Ryoma's shoulder a final pat as the girls reached them. He pulled Tomoka into his arms, greeting her with quick peck, "You two look gorgeous. Shall we...what's that English phrase Echizen?"

Ryoma downed the rest of his scotch and smacked the glass back down on the bar before he looked at the group and asked in English, "Paint the town red?"

Horio snapped his fingers and quickly translated, "That's the one, let's 'paint the town red.'" He repeated the phrase again in English for added benefit as Tomoka giggled in appreciation.

Sakuno snuggled into Ryoma's arm as they made their way out of their hotel and asked him, "What does it mean, 'paint the town red?'"

Ryoma gave her a cocky smirk, "Party your ass off."

She giggled, "Tomo-chan's going to love that!"

* * *

The group partied all week. Their hotel was centrally located to everywhere they wanted go, with a rooftop waterfront restaurant, a cozy bar, and gorgeous suites with private balconies. Ryoma still wasn't sure how Horio had managed to get them such a fabulous hotel during the height of Carnevale, but figured ignorance was bliss and enjoyed it for what it was. He wasn't one to extravagantly spend his millions on things such as Carnevale, but the beauty of being here was it was  _the last place on earth_  his parents would expect him to be.

Sakuno didn't think she'd ever had so much fun in her life. She  _loved_ Venice, she loved this hotel and she loved going out every night with her friends and the heart stopping excitement of being with Ryoma all the time. For being her 'fake' boyfriend he sure acted like a real one with each passing day. After all, she hadn't recalled signing up for romantic party days in Venice Italy. She didn't even mind the flashes from paparazzi that spotted them, or the gushing fans that approached them in the bustling lively city during the cool winter days and nights.  _This week had been like magic._

The morning of the day when they would leave for Dubai, Sakuno slept in late. She woke alone, which was fairly rare since Ryoma had entered her life, but on mornings she slept in it was not unusual to wake alone since Ryoma liked to go out early for a jog and a light breakfast. She was exhausted even as she woke. They had really partied hard the last few days and ohhhhh did she feel like she had the worst hangover ever, but oh...what a good night she'd had. Oh yes, yes, yes. She stretched out like a cat that got the cream on their king size bed as she remembered it. It would never be shared with another soul, for certain, but oh, she'd had the most wicked sexy dream the night before.

She'd been having them here and there the last few weeks...the  _sex dreams_. It had started after they'd been in the bath in Australia and Ryoma had brazenly rubbed his hands down her thighs. That night she'd dreamed about the bath, and in the dream, Ryoma hadn't stopped. She'd let him continue and he'd rubbed his way across every part of her body as she'd grasped onto him, her body swirling with pleasure. She'd woken up from it suddenly and had run into the bathroom in embarrassment. She'd finally calmed herself and gone back to bed, but she'd had a hard time looking at or talking to Ryoma without thinking about it for a few days after that.

After they'd arrived in Tokyo, she'd had another, and then another, and then another one in Rotterdam. Each one was different, but they'd all starred Ryoma. After the third dream, she'd passed them off as hormones that had been awakened. She talked herself out of being embarrassed about it and now she simply enjoyed them for what they were.

_None of them had been as fabulous as last night._

Yes, yes, yes,  _last night_  was the best one yet. It had been all hot kisses touches, and words whispered in the dark of the night. She felt like they'd spent hours worshipping each other's bodies. Just remembering it, she moaned into the empty room.

She heard the thump of Karupin landing on the floor from jumping off of something and decided it was time to get up.

She threw the covers off, and was immediately happy that she had slept in and woken up alone today. She must have kicked off her pajama pants in the night, or forgot to put them on since she'd been pretty drunk when they'd arrived back at the hotel. Either way it was just her top and panties she had on and she'd have been fairly embarrassed if she'd had to streak into the bathroom in front of Ryoma so scantily clad. Her fitted pajama top didn't exactly cover her panties like Ryoma's oversize t-shirts had.

With a shrug over her missing clothes, she got up and made her way to their suite's large bathroom. After relieving herself, brushing her teeth, and combing her hair out she twisted on the taps of the bathtub to fill it up, poured in the luxurious bubble bath from the hotel and submerged herself into the foamy hot water.

Hopefully the bath would ease her party wearied muscles and headache before they flew to Dubai today.

* * *

The morning they were leaving for Dubai, Ryoma woke up with the sunrise and a hangover. He shot the sunshine streaming in from their windows a dirty look before he closed his eyes again in irritation. He stretched out and paused as he realized his state of undress.

What...? Oh.

His mind cleared from the just woke up haze and was flooded with memories from the night before.

He turned his head to the side and observed Sakuno's still sleeping form. Sometime in the night, she'd managed to get into a pajama top and was curled up on her side with a slight smile on her face.

_She was smiling._  Well, that was good, right?

_They'd both been rather drunk when they'd crashed into the bed last night after being out partying._

He winced as his head pounded more furiously at him. As it was, he was pretty sure he'd only slept a few hours and he was paying for it with this headache.

He slid over and gave Sakuno's sleeping form a sweet kiss on her smiling parted lips. She stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. Which was good, he wasn't trying to way her up anyway, he'd just wanted to kiss her...

_Ugh. It wasn't supposed to be this way_ , he berated himself.

_Drunk_. Was she going to be angry with him? Had he even bothered to say anything to her as they'd somehow decided in their drunken states that this would be a good idea? He knew they'd both said plenty, but he couldn't for the life of him remember if it had been anything except discussion about the actual activity.

He blushed as he remembered that  _at the time_ , it had certainly been a fantastic idea...

It had started with nuzzling in the taxi boat on the way back to the hotel. Equally as buzzed as their friends, Horio and Tomoka had been kissing and giggling across the boat from them, their hands wandering over each other. Again, Ryoma had been slightly envious of how comfortable and open the other couple were with each other.

Impulsively, he'd taken Sakuno's hand that was closest to him and pulled it into his lap, tracing patterns on her palm. She'd sucked in her breath and scooted closer to him. Encouraged, he'd nuzzled into her neck, placing light kisses along the small patch of exposed flesh between her dress and her coat. Sakuno had let out a satisfied sigh.

"Echizen, we're here," Horio had interrupted.

They'd all quickly filed off the boat, Ryoma stopping momentarily to pay the driver. Stepping away from the boat, he took in Sakuno standing there waiting for him alone. Apparently, Horio and Tomoka had already gone inside. He'd given her a smirk and she'd giggled. He'd wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they turned to enter the hotel with goofy drunk smiles on their faces. His heart had started pounding in his ears as they'd pushed each other's hands away playfully to see who could call the elevator first.

_She was so amazing._

In the elevator, they'd both held their breaths as they discreetly touched each other with heated eyes, in their own private world from the few other hotel patrons in the lift with them. His heart warmed just remembering it. A minute later, he was unlocking their hotel room, and they'd eagerly pushed each other into the room. Layers of clothing were quickly being stripped off amidst nervous giggles and a chuckle here and there. Down to their underwear, they'd stopped and stared at each other for a few seconds before he'd grabbed her by her bare waist and tugged her flush up against his body. Taking a deep breath, he'd rubbed his hands possessively up her sides from her hips to her bra line; his whole body slightly pushing her up on her toes, and she'd shivered in delight against him.

Finally, he'd kissed her and she'd welcomed him openly. He'd grasped onto her hips as she'd started rubbing her small hands across his body, leaving a wake of goose bumps everywhere she touched.

_Where had she been all his life?_

Beyond turned on, he'd edged her forward and they'd stumbled towards the bed, touching each other and kissing anywhere their lips could reach as they moved in their drunken excitement. Reaching the bed, they'd crashed into it on their sides. Sakuno giggled while he grunted and pushed himself up until he was completely on the bed. Sakuno had quickly climbed over him, wrapping her legs around his lap.

As she leaned over him to resume kissing, he'd pulled her down towards him further, engulfing her smaller frame in his arms and fumbled with her bra strap at her back. Unyielding, he'd snapped it into her back in his haste, and Sakuno had laughed as he'd cursed in frustration. She'd pulled away and sat up, putting her weight on his thighs where her legs strattled him and putting both hands behind her back she had unhooked off the offending article with an expert tug. He'd held his breath as the straps had slowly slid down her arms, the delicate lace of the top of her bra gradually exposing her breasts to him.

Her eyes watched him watch her, both of them fascinated with the activity of the other person. Finally, her straps had reached her elbows and even though in reality it had probably only been a few seconds, it had felt like an eternity. Fully exposed, Sakuno had pulled her right forearm through the strap quickly and cast the undergarment off in one motion as it had slipped towards her left hand. Ryoma's eyes watched the arc it made as it soared off the side of the bed. He looked back at Sakuno's eyes, and then shifted his gaze down at her breasts.

"Can I...touch you?" He'd asked.

She'd giggled and repeated his own words back to him huskily, "It's okay to touch me."

And touch her he did, and then kissed and licked and worshipped every soft, beautiful part of her.

He let out an audible groan just remembering it. He was tempted to wake Sakuno up for a repeat, but his head pounded in protest. His body warred with itself for a few minutes, his desires and his pain fighting for priority. Would he wake her up, or get rid of the headache first?

His headache finally winning out, he took another glance towards Sakuno and decided to get up. He'd take a shower, take a walk, get some espresso to kill off this headache and maybe bring Sakuno back some breakfast. It would give him a chance to think.

_She'd agree to get married now, right?_

* * *

Sakuno had been relaxing in the bath for about 15 minutes until Ryoma came back into their suite. She heard the slam of the door closing, and the sound of his footsteps as he moved around a little. Soon enough she heard him approaching the bathroom and cursed herself for once again forgetting to lock the bathroom door when she was alone in the room. She blamed it on her hangover headache as she slipped lower under the bubbles, and watched the door handle turn.

Ryoma stood there in the doorway and gave her an uncertain smile, "Morning."

She bit her lip hard to keep herself from instantly blushing. Just looking at him after last night made her body feel hot all over. In the dreams she'd had before there simply hadn't been as much detail about the way his body looked and felt, but now she felt like she knew every delicious inch of him. It made looking at him without thinking of naughty things practically impossible.

"Ryoma, you really need to stop walking in on me in the bath," She scolded as she snapped her head away from him and instead looked down at the bubbles. She willed him to leave her alone before she embarrassed herself.

Ryoma wondered what that was supposed to mean. She had to be kidding after last night, right? He stepped fully into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He stripped off his socks and his shirt and then leaned down over her and gave her a quick kiss as she'd looked up at him.

Her eyes followed him as he pulled away from her. Noticing his bare chest she squirmed in the bath and asked, "What are you doing?"

He glanced at her as he grabbed the waist of his running pants to slip them off, "What do you think?"

He watched as her eyes widened and then she looked away as he stripped off the bottom half of his clothes. He furrowed his brow in concern, but moved over to the bath and slipped into the water with her anyways.

As the water resettled around them from his movements, Sakuno met his eyes across the bath. She was flushed red, but he couldn't tell if she was blushing or if it was simply the heat from the water. He put both of his hands on her knees and levered his upper half towards her, giving her a slow, languid kiss. Pulling away slightly he cupped her chin with one hand and asked quietly, "How are you feeling?"

Sakuno's eyes conveyed confusion.  _He didn't usually ask questions like that._

She gave a nonchalant shrug, "Sore, I guess."

He gave her a wolfish grin, "Sorry about that."

What was that? Ryoma was acting... _weird_.

"It's not your fault."

Ryoma pulled his hand away from Sakuno's face as if she'd caught on fire and pushed himself back against the far wall of the bathtub at her reply. The water sloshed around in the tub at his quick movements, small waves splashing over the sides.

_What? What? What?_

She didn't? Why was she...? His mind spun as he stared her down from across the tub and she blinked back at him in curiosity with her big innocent eyes.

Ryoma felt his headache coming back on full force. Oh no oh no oh no oh no. Images bounced around in his head, possible scenarios played out quickly.

"Ryoma? Are you okay?" Sakuno finally asked as he started rubbing his face furiously with his hands trying to shake off nightmare images of Sakuno yelling and leaving him as she threw projectiles towards him.

At her question, he kept his hands over his face, but stilled their movement. It's cool. It's cool.  _Play it cool._

"It's nothing," He muttered through his hands.

_WHY._

_Why why why why why why why why why._

Sakuno gave him a skeptical look that he missed, but she didn't comment.

_He needed to get out._

NOW.

Pulling his hands away from his face he abruptly slapped his hands against the edges of the tub.

"I gotta go," He said quickly as he pushed himself up out of the water.

Sakuno's jaw dropped before she clapped her hands over her eyes and squealed, "Ryoma!  _You didn't even put a towel on this time?"_

Ryoma grabbed a large towel off the towel rack and wrapped it around his waist as he watched Sakuno squeal and shake back and forth in the bathtub with her hands still covering her face.

_He was so frustrated he wanted to punch something._

Jerking his discarded clothes up off the floor he finally barked, "Sakuno! It's  _FINE_."

At his yell her head pounded in protest from her headache. She winced as she dropped her hands from her face and gaped at his retreating back in shock.

Wow.

_Ryoma had just yelled at her._

She watched him in distress as he opened and closed the bathroom door. Alone and suddenly feeling deflated, Sakuno slunk under the water and blew bubbles out of her mouth. Her chest constricted in pain.

_What had she done?_


	19. Truth

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

* * *

The flight to Dubai for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships was just under six hours from Venice. The whole group was tired and hungover from all their partying, but as they flew over the city the girls still managed to squeal over the world and palm trees man-made islands and to grasp each others hands in shared excitement as they took in the tall buildings and beautiful coastline. Sakuno had panicked when she'd spotted the tennis court sitting high atop the Burj Al Arab and almost launched out of her seat to grasp onto Ryoma and convince him to never play there. Ryoma's chest had fluttered at her concern as he'd smirked and informed her he'd already played a few friendly matches there - much to Sakuno's dismay.

After they landed, the ride from the airport to The Aviation Club Tennis Centre was very brief. Checking into their hotel rooms, the whole group crashed and slept all the way through the evening, night and into the next morning.

Sakuno noted privately that whatever had set off Ryoma's anger that morning in Venice had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Thankfully ever since she'd emerged from her bath he'd been back to his usual nonchalant self.

She was relieved that he was back to normal since she'd felt completely useless confronted with his apparent exasperation over nothing. Even worse, she'd had no idea how to make him feel better. Since he seemed to be over it, she figured it was something simple like stress or the general irritability that comes with being hungover and gave the strange encounter no further thought.

What was really bothering her now was the weird phone call Ryoma had in the middle of the night. She'd only heard one end of it, of course, but it had her worried. It had her thinking about things that she didn't want to think about.  _Again_.

She'd woken in a bit of a stupor to the sound of Ryoma's phone ringing. Waiting for him to shut it off since it was the middle of the night, she was surprised when she heard him answer it.

_"Mom?"_

...

"You  _never_  call me."

...

"I'm fine."

...

"Dubai."

...

"Yes, I do this tournament every year."

...

"I already told Dad no."

...

"Did you call me just to bug me about this?"

...

"Wait. Why are you...?"

..

"What?"

..

_"What?"_

...

"I don't...Mom.  _We're not talking about this_."

...

...

...

Sakuno wondered if he'd hung up until suddenly he broke the silence again, "She's sleeping, it's the middle of the night here."

...

"I have it."

...

"No."

...

"I  _am_  telling you,  _no_."

...

She heard him let out a huff of frustration, "Look, I gotta go."

...

"Mom. I gotta go."

...

"Bye."

She heard him mutter something under his breath in English, followed by the soft thunk of his cell phone being placed back on his nightstand. The covers rustled a bit as he rolled over and within minutes, she could hear the soft pants of his deep sleep breaths.

Sakuno stared into the darkness towards the ceiling wondering what the mother and son had been discussing, and knowing already that at least somewhere in that conversation his mother had asked about her. Her mind immediately flew back to meeting Ryoma's father in Melbourne and the strange conversation they'd had. Then she thought about the fight she and Ryoma had about marriage and his parents afterwards.

Wait...

_Was Ryoma irritated because his parents were pressuring him into marriage and he didn't want to get married?_

Okay, so obviously he didn't want to get married, right? This whole relationship of theirs was based on a scam after all, wasn't it? Even though they had a habit of steamy make-out sessions, it didn't exactly mean they were  _really_ boyfriend and girlfriend. Well, even if they were  _hypothetically_  really boyfriend and girlfriend,  _marriage_  was... _a whole different level._

Ryoma's comment to her on their first day together about being more than friends, floated back into her mind, and more recently of him being irritated that she'd freaked out over seeing him naked. Oh, oh, oh my...wait...was he trying to...had he been trying to tell her then that...oh... _was it even possible in this universe_  that a man like Echizen Ryoma could  _seriously_  want her as a girlfriend and he'd been trying to tell her...? She shook her head back and forth.  _There was just no way!_  He must have been teasing. Something like that could be nothing but a fantasy for just about any woman. Ryoma wasn't just an amazing talent, he was rich and he was gorgeous. He could have his pick of... _anyone._

She'd seen it first hand, the swarms of beautiful females that were always introducing themselves to him. He barely spared those model types (and any other girl for that matter) a glance as he politely went through the few sentences he felt were expected of him before quickly getting away from them in one way or another. So if those women apparently didn't have a chance in hell, well what made her think she... _still he'd said..._

Wait, NO. Nonononono  _she was being horribly silly right now._  Honestly, just because he didn't shoo her away from him like all the other girls, didn't mean he really wanted to be with her! They'd set up this whole arrangement to avoid girls because he needed a friend, to well... _be a friend_  and help him out, right? He didn't need some silly girl posing as a friend to fall in love with him and then trap him into getting married because his parents were pestering him about it for some reason. He needed  _a friend_  to  _pretend_  to be his girlfriend. Right? Right! Right.

_...right._

Sakuno sighed into the night as a piece of her heart shattered. There was just no way anything real or permanent romantically speaking would ever happen with Ryoma.  _She was stupid for even thinking it._  After months of being together she did know that he liked to tease her, and she felt that after all this was over they would somehow always be friends, but a real relationship or _marriage_  with a nobody like her? It was impossible. It just wasn't going to happen, _ever._  At the end of the day, he chose her because he  _didn't_  like her,  _right?_  Wasn't that clearly implied in the concept of "pretend?"

* * *

Ryoma had been right about Sakuno. She loved Dubai. She absolutely loved it. In fact, it had been the first time she had literally voiced a desire to stay in a tournament city. The tournament itself was the busiest yet since Ryoma had six days and six matches all in a row, so afterwards they'd lingered in the city for some tourism. For three days after the tournament, they went to the beach, went to as many attractions as possible, and spent a considerable amount of time each afternoon in the malls.

The malls in Dubai were amazing, like giant amusement parks. Three afternoons were not enough time just to see _them_. Tomoka had been in her element with all the shopping and had happily dragged Sakuno into one designer store after another to increase Sakuno's ever expanding wardrobe as the boys had opted for the ski slope or the aquarium; it just depended on which mall they were in that day. They hadn't even had time to get to all the other malls and Tomoka had instantly made an oath to make sure they had more time in Dubai next year. There were so many malls and stores and...oh...the shopping in the city was  _amazing._

_Why hadn't Ryoma-sama scheduled more time there?_

It was while they were briefly doing a final visit to Dubai Mall on the last day that Ryoma pulled Sakuno aside and steered her towards one of the many fine jewelry stores in the Gold Souk.

As they approached the store's entrance, Sakuno stopped abruptly and giving the store a confused look, shook her head as she said, "I...um...I don't need any fancy jewelry."

Ryoma shoved his hands in his pockets and gave her a long stare.

Sakuno stared back, and then after a few minutes she stomped her foot in frustration and entered. There was no point in protesting with him when he gave her  _that look._

Immediately caught by the sparkles, she made a beeline for the pendants and decided to find a modest necklace pendant she could use with some of her formals. On second thought, getting some nice jewelry probably _wasn't a bad idea_  since she needed to maintain a good image for Ryoma's sake.  _After all it was part of their deal._  Maybe she should get a strand of pearls too, for that matter. She worried her lower lip as she quickly did a mental checklist on her wardrobe, wondering what would be appropriate for what.  _Why had Ryoma pulled her away from Tomoka to do this?_  It would be much easier with her friend there.  _Honestly._  He was so...weird sometimes.

"Sakuno," Ryoma summoned her to the other side of the store with a wave of his hand. Sakuno looked up from the pendants wondering what Ryoma was looking at. Maybe he wanted her to help him pick out new watch? Once again Sakuno lamented to herself that Tomoka would have been the better choice on such an opinion. Still, she obediently followed and peered into the large jewelry case Ryoma was standing over.

To her surprise, she saw bridal ring sets glittering at her from the case. She took a step back and then gave Ryoma a wide-eyed look.

"Which one do you like?" He asked.

She gave the jewelry case a hard glare and then turned her glare at Ryoma. Was he... _teasing her again?_

"These are wedding sets."

"Mada mada-"

She quickly interrupted him exclaiming,  _"Don't you dare!"_

He grimaced and pushed the edge of his thumb against the corner of the glass case, slowly tracing a line across the top, "Mom demands it."

_"Ryoma...that's stupid!"_

He dropped his hand off of the case and shrugged, "I know."

"Then we agree," She turned on her heel to go back to the necklace case, but Ryoma grabbed her arm and pulled her back next to him to gaze down at the wedding sets.

Sakuno gave the glitteringly beautiful rings a suspicious scowl. Those traitors jewels were...were... _winking at her! How dare they!_

Ryoma put his arm slightly around her waist and said quietly, "The next tournament...it's in America."

Sakuno turned her neck to look up at him and whispered back, "It is?"

"The next two are there. California, then Miami. We'll be there for a month," He explained.

Sakuno looked back down at the plethora of breathtaking diamond bridal sets sparkling up at her through the glass and wondered for not the first time what Ryoma  _wasn't saying._

Last time she'd checked she didn't need a wedding ring to go to California or Miami. Additionally, when they'd talked about marriage in Australia after his father's odd speech, Ryoma had told her in no uncertain terms  _not to worry about his parents._

She suppressed a sigh of frustration. Did he really have to bring it up again? The feeling that another fight was coming on made her want to throw up. They'd been in this...happy bubble ever since Kintaro-kun had popped up in Australia and declared his rivalry for her "boyfriend." She didn't want the bubble to burst. Why couldn't he have just...left it alone?

She dropped her voice to a very quiet whisper and said, "Okay, but I don't see what that has to do with," She paused and blushed before adding quickly, "Wedding rings."

Ryoma slid his hand from her waist to her hip and squeezed. Why couldn't she have just told him which one she liked?

_This could be so much easier if only..._

"Sakuno, my parents..." He paused and closed his eyes for a moment. Speaking very quietly, he continued, "I don't know why, but they are really angry that we're not engaged. Once we're in the US, we won't be able to avoid them anymore. If the reporters in America see us with them or find out about it... _it won't be good."_

He took in Sakuno's big curious eyes gazing at him steadily, waiting for more.

Damn. He was going to have to spell it out. He gave a huff of irritation and muttered, "We need to either get engaged...or break up. _I don't want to break up_."

Sakuno's eyes widened at his quickly added declaration of not wanting to break up. Her stomach felt like it was doing somersaults, her heart was pounding out of her chest and her ears were thumping in time with her suddenly impossibly loud heartbeat. Her mind spun. What did that mean? What did  _that_  mean?

_What did that mean?_

_Why_  did it mean so much when he said he  _didn't want to break up_  as if that's supposed to mean something? Why did something so completely unromantic sound so meaningful when it was coming from Ryoma?

"So..." Oh, she just didn't even know what to ask. What was the most important question?  _There were so many._  So then, you  _want_  to be with me? So, you want to break up in the future, but  _not right now_? So, we aren't getting married,  _just engaged_? So, is this the same as our other arrangement?

_Is any of this for real?_

Ryoma saw the questions swimming around in her eyes and wasn't sure what to say. He didn't want to scare her away by asking for such a big commitment too quickly, but he also knew she needed to know the truth.

_The truth that, at this rate, they were really going to get married._

More importantly, somehow...she needed to know the truth that...

_It wasn't fake._

It wasn't fake at all like they'd first discussed. Hell, he hadn't really viewed it as fake from the first moment he'd impulsively pressed his lips against hers in her apartment in Tokyo. From that moment on...it had been real.

_It had all been real._

He hadn't understood it right away, but ever since he'd realized that first day in Australia that he  _really_  liked her, he'd known that marriage was where he wanted their relationship to be headed. When she'd given her impulsive speech to the world at that press conference, _that had been it for him._  From that point on, he'd... _just known_. She would travel with him and they would get married and she would stay with him - just like she'd said. It had sounded...perfect.

Yes, they were kind-of being rushed, yes they were being pushed by his parents, yes he was thinking seriously about marriage way sooner than he'd ever imagined he would, but in the end, _this is what he wanted._  The wild card was Sakuno. He just didn't really know what Sakuno wanted. He definitely didn't want her to run away from him by forcing it too soon, but the looming threat of the vicious American paparazzi combined with his parents scaring her off forever was forcing him to act,  _now._

_It had to be now._  There was no getting around it.

After last week...

When he was being honest with himself about it, about what happened...

That  _it_  happened.

It was time to talk about it...wasn't it?

Ryoma reminded himself of what he'd been thinking about all week to psyche himself up for this - what she'd already promised.

In Tokyo...she'd promised to stay by his side.

In Melbourne...she'd told the whole world that she would stay with him, even if it meant  _marriage_  and babies...

She'd meant it...she'd meant all of it,  _hadn't she_?

_In Venice..._

This  _could_  work, it just  _had_  to work. Somehow,  _she had to understand_  - like that morning before they'd left for Australia and he'd told her it would be perfect... _because it was them_. She'd understood him then, it was in her eyes...her eyes...they...

_They told him everything._

He gulped and pressed forward, "We'll buy rings, and we can tell my parents we're engaged. We can keep it a secret from everyone else, but the media will probably find out somehow, it's what they do. When they do, it won't just be my parents, but the whole world will be expecting..." He stopped abruptly and gazed back down at the glittering jewels.

Sakuno kept her eyes focused on Ryoma, waiting for him to continue as her heart seemingly stopped. Was he saying...? If he was,  _then what?_  What were they going to do? That was the most important question!

Ryoma's eyes met hers again as he confessed, "We'll probably end up married. If my parents have anything to say about it, they'll try to get us to fill out the papers as soon as we go see them. That will be in the two weeks between Miami and the Monte-Carlo Masters, though the earliest we can probably get the papers registered would be the two weeks between the French Open and Wimbledon."

Sakuno stared at him slack-jawed. She was pretty sure at this point not only her heart had stopped beating, but that her breath had left her completely as well. Wh-wh-wh-wha...?

Ryoma took in her frozen look of shock. He tells the girl they were going to  _get married_  and  _that was it?_  Couldn't she at least... _smile_  or something? _Why was she giving him a look like that?_  Was it really so unbelievable? He'd spelled it all out for her, hadn't he? That this is what they needed to do.

_Unless she wanted to break up._  His heart pounded furiously in his ears as his thoughts spiraled in sudden panic all over again. She...she didn't want to break up either,  _did she?_  Horio had said she wouldn't leave him, hadn't he? After that last night in Venice...there's just  _no way_  she didn't  _really_  like him... _right?_

After a few minutes of nothing more than a blink or two from her, Ryoma finally lost his patience. With an outward confidence that wasn't in him he asked again, "Which one do you like?"

At Ryoma's question thrown at her again Sakuno blinked and then shook her head as if she was trying to wake from a dream. She gazed at the case as her thoughts gathered into some semblance of order. Finally, she licked her lips and barely whispered to the rings below them, "We...we'll um... _probably..._ end up... _married?"_

Despite her incredibly quiet delivery, the appall in her tone was not lost on Ryoma. He swore under his breath. This wasn't going well, was it?  _Damn his interfering parents!_

"Probably."

_Oh to hell with it_ , he was just going to tell it to her straight. "Yes."

"So we wouldn't  _if?_ " Sakuno asked as she tapped her fingernail against the case.

Ryoma took a deep breath. Damn, sometimes she was frustrating. Was she really forcing him to say it  _again?_

"We'd have to..." His voiced dropped to almost undetectable as he mumbled, "Break up."

Sakuno's eyes cleared for a moment and she looked back at him as she said quickly,  _"But you don't want to do that."_

Ryoma flushed the slightest bit pink, "I don't."

Sakuno grabbed Ryoma's forearm and dragged him out of the store and into one of the mall's deep concrete alcoves. Alone in the shadows she dropped his forearm and hissed urgently, "Ryoma, are you... _seriously asking me to marry you?"_

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and thunked his head against the concrete wall behind him, "You say it like it's a bad thing."

Her horrified face increased, "No! I didn't mean it like that. It's not-" She stopped talking suddenly and he watched as she flushed red from her hands, arms, up her chest, neck, face, and all the way through the roots of her hair. Her eyes met his with wonder and somehow he knew...

_She understood._  He knew in that moment  _she just realized..._

Unable to stop himself, he pulled his hands from his pockets, pushed away from the wall, and pinned Sakuno up against the opposite wall kissing her fiercely.

She responded just as intensely, pulling his shoulders down, trying desperately to get closer as she kissed him back. Grabbing his cheeks, she pulled him away barely enough so she could stammer out against his lips, "Ah-Are you _sure?"_

Ryoma could barely believe she was asking him that. Wasn't that supposed to be his question to her? Wasn't he the one forcing the issue? He wrapped both of his arms around her small frame and squeezing her up against his body as closely as physically possible, he spun them around so his back was to the wall and snuggled her into his larger frame.

_"Yes."_

And then, he felt it. The soft splash of a teardrop on his arm. He moved her back to arm's length quickly, looking at her face, seeing her long silent tears, "Sakuno?"

She gave him a watery smile as she shook her head and with the back of her wrist hastily wiped them away, "I'm just... _so happy_."

In response he felt his chest glow with an intensity even more powerful than when she'd sworn to the world she would stay by his side. It was all consuming, and somehow, he knew somewhere inside of himself that Sakuno was feeling  _exactly the same_. He pulled her in close to him again and pushed under her head with his chin until she looked up at him through her tears. Flashing a rare smile of pure happiness at her, he kissed her again.

Dammit all, his stupid old man was right...

_This_  was way better than winning The Grand Slam.


	20. Epilogue: All's Well That Ends Well

**For Services Rendered**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

* * *

Epilogue

* * *

Ryoma, Sakuno, Horio, Tomoka and Karupin traveled to California for the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells. Ten days later, they flew to Florida for the Sony Ericsson Open Miami. Of course, Ryoma won both tournaments. That was, despite the hounding of paparazzi chasing them down, trying desperately to snap pictures of "the newly engaged couple." There hadn't been any statements from the couple or their managers, but there was no missing the large rock that had appeared on Sakuno's finger after Dubai.

Oh, but what they didn't know, was that the couple were in fact,  _already married_.

Indeed, after sharing their happy news with their closest friends in the famous Dubai Mall, they had quickly decided to head back to Japan and send in the family registry papers before traveling on to California. Neither Ryoma nor Sakuno had been interested in the fanfare of a large wedding ceremony, especially considering Ryoma's celebrity status. With all the traveling required of Ryoma to keep up with the ATP World Tour, they didn't know when they could even do a small ceremony with family and close friends; so they'd decided to simplify things and get their marriage registered and worry about doing something more formal later. It had simply made the most sense to them. Why wait? Why wait for who knew how long?

_What mattered was that they were going to be together._

_Forever._

So while the American press speculated on what Sakuno's wedding dress would look like and where the couple would go for their honeymoon, Ryoma and Sakuno had enjoyed knowing _the media had no idea what they were talking about._

What the press also didn't know was that Sakuno had a smaller diamond ring set that she intended to use as her real daily wedding ring after the media parade was over. What they also didn't know was that Ryoma's manager, Horio Satoshi was also newly married, to his long-time girlfriend Osakada Tomoka.

After the Sony Ericsson Open Miami, they stayed in Miami for a few days as Ryoma was busy filming commercials and modeling for ads. The girls had been thrilled, as they'd loved the warm climate and beautiful coastline in Miami. Their consensus was that if Ryoma was going to have endorsement work to do in April, they couldn't think of a better place than Miami for him to do it in.

Soon enough after the Sony Ericsson Open Miami the group were taking the flight up the east coast of the USA to Ryoma's house in New York. Ryoma was anxious to show Sakuno their other house there and introduce her to his mother.

Sakuno liked New York a lot. It was a beautiful exciting city, and she loved the breathtakingly wide port, it reminded her a bit of Tokyo and she liked that very much. Flying in on Ryoma's jet had granted them some great views of the city before they'd landed and she was looking forward to exploring it with Horio and Tomoka the next week before they had to leave for Monaco for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

Their first day in New York, they headed over to Ryoma's parents' house for a visit. As it was of course that,  _Mom had demanded it._ Ryoma had been fairly surprised that his parents hadn't cropped up in California or Miami after all their nagging about getting married they'd been giving him since they'd heard they were dating.

_Parents. Go figure._

Arriving at the Echizens' house Sakuno was engulfed in a hug by Echizen Rinko at the entryway, "Sakuno-chan! It's been years  _my dear girl!_  How I've missed you, and all this time Ryoma was just keeping you all to himself!"

Sakuno hugged her mother in law back and mouthed over her shoulder to Ryoma, 'What is she talking about?'

Ryoma shook his head and made a gesture indicating he thought his mother was crazy.

When Sakuno was finally released from her hug, she gave a polite bow and said, "Nice to meet you."

Rinko stepped back and put a hand over her heart, "Meet me? What are you talking about? I've known you since the day you were born!"

_Say what?_

Startled and confused, Sakuno shook her head, "I-I don't understand."

Rinko suddenly looked horrified. Keeping one hand on Sakuno's shoulder, she whipped around to look at her son, "Ryoma. What is this?"

Ryoma shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, "Mom. I told you I don't know what you're talking about."

Rinko's eyes narrowed as she swiveled her head back and forth,  _"How can that be?"_

The newlyweds gave each other puzzled looks.

Distraught, Rinko yelled out for her husband as she corralled Ryoma and Sakuno into her living room. She sat them down on the plush couches while she muttered under her breath. As they sat, to Sakuno's surprise Rinko asked her how her grandmother was doing, and the two briefly engaged in some light chit-chat about Ryuzaki Sumire.

As soon as Ryoma had finally settled into a seat, Nanjiro appeared in the living room. Rinko stood back up and put her hands on her hips shooting her husband  _a look_ , "Nanjiro, the kids are saying they don't remember."

Nanjiro crossed his arms, and looked at Sakuno suspiciously, "Sakuno-chan... _surely_  you were joking with me in Melbourne."

 _Oh...Ryoma's parents were so intense!_  Sakuno shook her head vehemently, and nervously exclaimed, "I-I'm very sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Nanjiro looked at his son, "Seishounen!  _You_  don't remember?"

Ryoma was fed up with the whole crazy trip his parents had been on since they'd heard he started dating. All this crazy talk, all these demands, and well, sure things had worked out in a good way, but they really needed to either drop it, or explain themselves already. He crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "How many times do we have to tell you we don't know what you're talking about?"

Nanjiro and Rinko looked at each other for a second and froze in stunned silence. A minute later, they simultaneously bolted from the room.

Ryoma and Sakuno looked at each other, both of their faces clearly implying,  _'What the...?'_

A couple of minutes later, Rinko came back into the room with a large photo album already opened in her arms,  _"To think,_  you don't remember and the two of you are already engaged anyways! I can't say I'm surprised about  _that_ since you were always so inseparable, but I  _can't believe_  you kids don't remember."

Ryoma shot Sakuno the smirk of a shared secret as Sakuno bit her lip to keep from giggling.

_Ryoma hadn't even told his parents they were married yet? Oh my..._

Rinko sat next to Sakuno as she furiously flipped through pages of the album. Finally she stopped and putting the album in Sakuno's lap she pointed to a large picture in the photo album.

Sakuno leaned forward and took a good look at the picture and gasped. Her head shot up, and she locked eyes with her husband, "Ryoma!"

She looked back and forth between the picture and Ryoma a few times, shaking her head as Ryoma moved over to the couch Sakuno was at and sat on the other side of her. He pulled the photo album off of Sakuno's lap and held it up to the light, inspecting the large framed picture in the middle.

 _It was two young children, a boy and a girl._ He instantly recognized himself as the boy. _The girl had chestnut hair woven into twin braids that reached past her shoulders with flower clips on the ends. They were cuddling together, Ryoma's small arms wrapped around her possessively as they slept in shaded grass, probably under a tree, though it was hard to tell since the picture was a close up of the children._

Directly under the photo his mother's handwriting labeled, 'Ryoma and Sakuno' with a date next to it.

_They'd been five._

Ryoma slapped a hand over his face as flashes of long forgotten memories came to him.

_Oh for the love of..._

_No wonder_  he'd been so drawn to Sakuno! He rolled his eyes and berated himself for his stupidity at not putting it all together sooner.

With a rueful chuckle he shook his head. Resting the photo album on his lap, he yanked on a strand of Sakuno's hair and deadpanned, "Sa-chan."

Sakuno, who'd been having her own trip down memory lane with the stunning realization of  _why_  she'd been so comfortable with Ryoma from day one gave him a happy grin at his old address and asked in a stunned whisper, _"Ryo-kun? Really?"_

Rinko clapped her hands triumphantly, "See! You  _do_  remember! You two have been crazy about each other since you met the day Sakuno was born! Even  _then_  we couldn't separate you without you crying for each other."

"How did we not realize before?" Sakuno wondered out loud to no one in particular.

Ryoma shook his head and held up the picture again to examine it, "We were so young. I don't think I knew your real name was Sakuno though."

"Yes, I mean...I only knew Ryo-kun, not Ryoma, but  _I always thought_  those memories were fake, like memories from a dream I had. It seemed so... _unreal_ , but...wow, I guess it wasn't," Sakuno trailed off her rambles before she gave Ryoma a knowing smile.

He smirked at her knowing what she  _had_  to be thinking because well... _he remembered too_.

They were always going to get married.

He didn't even remember how old they'd been when he'd first informed her that she would be with him forever, but he remembered the glowing smile and the soft "okay" she'd given him when he'd told her. After that, it had been a very matter of fact topic of discussion for them. They always talked about it with excitement, that when they grew up, they would always be together and Sakuno would travel with him for tennis tournaments around the world. They'd live at the temple in Tokyo. Everything. It had all been part of  _the plan_.

He'd forgotten it. All of it. They'd moved away from  _Sa-chan_  to Los Angeles, then on to New York and he'd been focused on  _nothing_  but tennis, so all he'd really remembered was that he didn't want anything to do with girls and he'd stuck with that.

Until he'd seen Sakuno and like a moth drawn to the flame, he'd approached her across that concrete hallway in Ariake Coliseum.

_He should have realized something at the Coliseum. He never approached girls and talked to them._

_Ever._

It was a wonder he'd let her walk away that afternoon, though now that he was thinking about it, he did recall a fleeting thought during his match of hunting down the bun-girl's ramen shop. At the time of course, he hadn't made the connection. Hell, he hadn't even recognized her at first when they'd arrived at her apartment and her hair had been down from the buns she'd had in the Coliseum's hallway. Thinking about it now though, he knew, he just knew that if he hadn't ended up in her apartment that night, somehow he would have ended up at that damn ramen shop and not even know  _why_.

Sakuno's mind was similarly spinning as she turned through the other pages of the photo album. It was filled... _filled_ with pictures of the two of them. She  _really had been_  in love with him her whole life and  _there really was_  no other guy for her...what do you know, there really is more truth said in jest. To think...after all this time they'd been separated that they'd both refused to date until they'd somehow found each other again.

_It was crazy!_

She'd remembered it. All of it. Ryo-kun and her, how they'd been  _crazy in love_  as children. They'd spent every moment they could together when their families visited and protested continually every time they were separated.

As she'd grown older she'd dismissed the memories as girlish fancies, after all,  _where was this Ryo-kun?_  Surely, they must have been fake memories she'd fabricated from dreams to make her life more interesting, otherwise she'd have still known him. The thought that Ryo-kun could have been a real person that had simply moved to another country had never even occurred to her as a possibility. By the the time she was entering middle school she'd convinced herself that Ryo-kun was no more than an imaginary boy.

Though, Ryo-kun had been part of the driving force behind her 'no dating' policy. Even though she'd thought for certain he was nothing but a dream, her childhood love of Ryo-kun was incomparable. She hadn't been ready to let him go,  _he could never be replaced_. She'd never meet a guy that cherished her that much.

_Or so she'd thought._

Then Echizen Ryoma had come along, the world famous sexy tennis prince, and he'd swept her off her feet and into his life,  _effortlessly_. Just like Ryo-kun she'd been unable to resist doing everything for him. In hindsight she should have figured it out sooner. Though, connecting her childish fantasies (as she'd thought they were) with the reality of the world tennis champion (even if they hadn't been fantasies) had been so astronomically impossible to her that she hadn't even thought of it. Not to mention Ryo-kun had never been a nickname for Ryoma to her and Ryo-kun was from Japan, not America like Ryoma.

Ryo-kun was Ryo-kun. Ryoma was Ryoma. Putting the two together as the same person was... _overwhelming._

Noting Sakuno's pursed lips, Ryoma swept an arm across the back of her shoulders and placed a kiss against her temple as his mother cooed in approval.

"So you two really haven't kept in touch all these years?" Rinko asked.

They both shook their heads no.

"I'd thought...we met at Ariake Coliseum a few months ago when Ryoma was there for his exhibition match," Sakuno shared.

Rinko shook her head in disbelief before she quickly recovered her confusion. Clapping her hands together in excitement she said, "As usual you two are so romantic! You kill me! Sakuno-chan,  _tell me_  about how you two met again as adults! Did he sweep you off your feet right away again?"

Sakuno flushed as she briefly recounted their meeting and how Horio had brought Ryoma over after the match to escape the paparazzi. Leaving out the details of their initial arrangement she explained instead that Ryoma had asked her to be his girlfriend and she'd accepted.

Rinko shook her head in wonder, "I can barely believe it. Ryoma, I'm so sorry we've been pestering you so much about getting married. We had  _no idea_  you didn't remember. It seemed so obvious. You called us up and said you were moving back to Japan and then right after that I see a picture of you two kissing. After Sakuno's cute little speech in Melbourne, which by the way she sounded just like she did when you two were kids, well, we just assumed the two of you had stayed together from when you were little. We should-"

"Mom," Ryoma interrupted. "It's fine." He fought back a smirk.  _After all, he still hadn't broken the news to them that they were already married._

_It was their punishment for being crazy pestering parents!_

Rinko tsked, "Well, I guess we're happy you two found each other again, though I'm sure your father would have made a point of it sooner or later, he was always your biggest supporter. Did you know-" She paused as Nanjiro reentered the room with an old camcorder.

"Oh!" Rinko exclaimed.

"What's that, Uncle?" Sakuno asked, curious at her mother in law's reaction.

Nanjiro grinned and let out a mischievous snicker, "Oh Sakuno-chan, since you and Ryoma are getting married, you can just call me Dad. Heh heh..."

Sakuno blushed.

Ryoma frowned.  _That_  laugh was never a good sound from his old man. It almost always lead to something horribly embarrassing. Before he could stop him though, Nanjiro had turned on the television and hooked up the camcorder to play on it.

Ryoma and Sakuno watched in confusion as Nanjiro collected his wife and left the room. Turning their heads back to the television they caught the very beginning of the video.

It was a wall. The picture wobbled a bit as the camera slowly went around the corner. A very young Ryoma was sitting on a sofa, his baseball cap was slightly askew because it was too large for his head and he held a big brown tennis racquet that wobbled in his two handed grip until he set it down next to him with a frown. Suddenly, young Sakuno appeared running into the room full speed, and she crashed into the couch Ryoma was sitting on. She was wearing a little pink dress, her hair in it's typical braids down her back, though it was not as long as it had eventually grown out to.

"Ryo-kun! Ryo-kun!" She greeted, crying.

Apparently startled by her frantic appearance, young Ryoma exclaimed, "Sa-chan!" He jumped off the sofa and hugged her close.

"Is it true? Are you really leaving?" Little Sakuno asked, still frantically wailing.

Just watching it, Sakuno's heart constricted. Her younger self looked like her world had just  _shattered_. This...she didn't remember it.  _The goodbye_. Maybe that was why she'd always chalked the memories up as pure fantasy. Unconsciously, she placed her hand over her heart and scrunched the soft fabric of her dress.

Back in the video, young Ryoma took his hat off and placed it on the table and then put his hands on Sakuno's face, wiping her tears away he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss.

_Oh..._

He placed his forehead against hers and it was obvious he was saying something, but he was talking too quietly for the camcorder's mic to pick it up.

Sakuno closed her eyes for a moment, unable to watch the stricken expression on her younger self's face for another second.

Ryoma leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "Mom has very important work in America, so we have to move. When I grow up, I'll come get you and we'll always be together, just like we promised."

Sakuno opened her eyes again as tears began to pool in them. She watched her younger self grasp onto the younger Ryoma on the video, and suddenly she knew...

Unconsciously, she woodenly whispered back, "I know Ryo-kun will be the number one tennis player in the world. I promise when you come I will go with you to stay by your side. Always." She looked away from the TV to Ryoma and was immediately met with his warm hazel eyes. From nowhere she felt shy and embarrassed and put her hand over her mouth as she watched him break out into a big grin.

She shook her head and began babbling, "I can't believe you remember! I didn't...until you said, and then I knew what I said, and then..."

_"NANJIRO! WHAT are you DOING?"_

Both of their gazes whipped back to the TV set as his mother's yelling suddenly blasted through the television's speakers. On the screen, a young Ryoma and Sakuno were giving startled looks in the direction of the camera. The camera got wobbly for a second as they both heard Ryoma's father curse.

The video ended, cut to a blue screen and then TV snow.

Their moment ruined, just like in the video, Sakuno stared dumbfounded at the TV snow as she thought about it.

Okay...so  _now that she was thinking about it_ , she couldn't believe Uncle Nanjiro had been taping them! How much other stuff had he secretly taped when they were kids? They'd always been together and they'd had all sorts of plans they talked about.

Even if they were little kids...that stuff was... _private!_

"So the kissing in your apartment wasn't the first time," Ryoma quipped, breaking the silence.

Oh, he said it. No shame, this man of hers, none. He'd even risked kissing her in public in Dubai, even though, granted they'd been in semi-privacy in a secluded alcove. She'd kissed him back too, even though she'd known better because well, they'd just...and well, thankfully nobody had seen them. Still, Sakuno's jaw dropped, and she turned back to him, "We already knew that, but back then was just little pecks."

Ryoma smirked, "Well you know..."

Sakuno giggled.

"That video wasn't the first, though."

Sakuno shook her head in wonder, "I do remember it all too, you know." Was it possible he was teasing her?  _Again?_ He would never stop, would he?

She wasn't sure she remembered  _exactly_  when  _the very first kiss_  had been, but she remembered well enough that they'd kissed plenty as children. It was the primary reason why she'd always attributed the memories of 'Ryo-kun' to some dreams or an over-active imagination. After all, little kids didn't exactly fall in love and go around kissing like that, did they?

Well, apparently,  _they had._

She glanced at the photo album again and wondered if any of her childhood photo albums were filled with pictures of the two of them as well. Was that the reason Grandma was always pestering her to look through them? Why hadn't she ever listened and looked at them? She could have known about Ryoma and traveled to go meet him years ago if she had!  _To think all this time Ryo-kun..._

"Horio's going to be happy. We finally have a statement for him...our families are old friends and we've been engaged since we were little," Ryoma said.

Suddenly overcome with happiness, Sakuno gave Ryoma the glowing smile that only comes from a girl looking at the boy she's hopelessly in love with, "At least you finally came back for me."

"Yeah." He thought about Sakuno's grandmother's words to him when he'd first 'met' her.

_...Nanjiro and I always agreed that the two of you make a cute couple._

_...Don't you remember?_

_...Hmmm, well consider it that you have my blessing._

He didn't usually agree with his old man about anything non-tennis related, but on this thing, he totally agreed.

_She was an old hag!_

Why hadn't she said anything months ago when  _she knew_  he didn't remember?

Now that his mind was going, he started wondering if there were other things he'd forgotten. Had all those visits back to Japan really not included seeing Sakuno again? Their families were obviously old friends. His mother had even said they'd been there the day Sakuno was born - which was just crazy, he had to have been only what? _Three weeks old?_  Still even if they hadn't visited the Ryuzakis on their visits, the temple was in the neighborhood she'd grown up in.  _He could have seen her several times and not even known it!_

Sakuno had her cell phone out and was snapping pictures of the pictures of them in the photo album. He watched as she set the large photo his mother had first shown them as her phone's wallpaper and grinned up at him in triumph.

"Childhood sweethearts. You know the media is going to go crazy for it," He said.

"We were cute kids," She added.

Ryoma smirked, "So you're saying we're going to have cute children then?"

Sakuno flushed, "I..."

"They'll all play tennis just like me, you know..."

Sakuno scowled, "They might want to be a ramen chef like me!"

"You mean  _a professional tennis player's wife,_ like you? Well, maybe the girls, but they'll probably just play tennis instead."

"Ryoma! Our kids can be whatever they want!"

"Mada mada dane," He said as he snickered. Teasing her was so much fun. He'd never get sick of it, even when they were old and gray and had great-grandchildren  _that played tennis._

"You know what? You get ramen for dinner tonight."

He stood up and Sakuno stood as well,  _"Let's go home, wife."_

"Okay."

Okay. That...was perfect. No  _where is home_. Just  _okay_. She finally knew where home was.

_Home was with him, wherever in the world they were._

The couple spent a few minutes saying goodbye to Ryoma's parents. Ryoma immensely enjoyed breaking the news to them that they'd already added Sakuno to the family registry. The mixed joy and annoyance he received from his parents  _almost_  made their months of harassing worth it. With a promise to come visit again soon the two left and made their way back to their own house there in New York.

"Sakuno. There's something else you need to remember," Ryoma said as they entered the front door.

"Really?" Sakuno asked. She was half expecting him to tease her about something else she already remembered, but she couldn't think of anything specific.

"When we were in Venice, that last night-"

He stopped as Sakuno slapped her hand over his mouth, her whole body flushed red as she gave him a shocked look,  _"Are you saying?"_

His eyes said it all.

Sakuno took her hand off of his mouth and covered her cheeks as she flushed a deeper red thinking how that explained  _a lot._ "But I-I thought it was just... _a dream_ ," She confessed.

Ryoma shook his head, "Mada mada dane. You think a lot of things are dreams, don't you?"

Sakuno shrugged sheepishly, and said somewhat pathetically,  _"I guess I do."_

Well, at least she remembered... _the first time..._ and now...she knew it was real.

He leaned over and gave her a kiss. Taking her hand he began to lead her up the stairs,  _"Have you seen the bathtub here?"_

* * *

_Ten years ago in Tokyo..._

Ryuzaki Sakuno (12 years old) has fallen into a very awkward position. Is it possible to safely get off at the next station?

_What do I do?_

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! You idiots still don't know the rules for gripping! To hit the top spin it's the western grip, ya know? I'm telling you, keep the racquet like this and hold it like you're shaking hands."

"OH! Of course Sasabe is different!"

"Stupid! This is common sense!"

Sakuno cowered out of the way as the racquet once again flew quickly past her face. WHOOSH, WHOOOSH, WHOOOSH went the air around her.

"Yo, can't you keep it down?"

 _Ah...?_ Sakuno looked up in surprise at the cute boy her age across the aisle that had spoken to the older boys on the train.  _WOW. What a cool guy! How had she missed seeing him across the way until now?_

_Was he saving her from these boys?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do want to say again, for anybody that got confused by the ending - Ryoma did NOT go to middle school in Japan - this is not only told at the beginning of the fanfic, but it's also mentioned by Nanjiro when he visits Ryoma in Melbourne - that didn't change. The ending snippet is to show the missed opportunities when they had indeed SEEN each other momentarily when Ryoma had visited Japan in the time between when they were 5 when he moved to the USA and before they reunited at 22. There is now a "sequel" series of drabbles to this fic called "For Services Rendered Afterthoughts" if you're interested in reading non-chronological mostly self contained drabbles that add to this story plot hit up my profile by clicking my author name at the top of the fic and look for For Services Rendered Afterthoughts. I hope you all enjoy!


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